Template for Open Access Contracts

Manila Bulletin 
By Myrna M. Velasco 
Published: July 23, 2013 
Template contracts for distribution utilities (DUs) which shall be taking the function of supplier of last resort (SOLR) in the industry’s retail competition and open access (RCOA) regime had been set out by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
As SOLR, the DUs will have to supply the electricity requirements of customers which may not be able to enter into supply deals with retail electricity suppliers (RES) or when the latter cannot provide supply to a particular end-user.
ERC Chairperson Zenaida G. Cruz-Ducut noted that the pro-forma agreements had been approved by the regulatory body to “facilitate the smooth transition of the power industry to a retail competition and open access regime.”
It has also been the regulator’s hope that such shall “help standardize the various terms and conditions applicable to the various services that the DUs shall be offering to the retail market participants.”
The template agreements include SOLR contract; connection agreement (CA) as well as distribution wheeling services agreement or DWSA.
The pro forma SOLR contract, according to the ERC, “contains the standard termsand conditions that govern the agreement between the SOLR and the contestable customer.”
Qualified as contestable customers are end-users with at least 1.0 megawatt of peak demand; based on the prescribed billing cycle by the regulator.
For the pro forma CA, this shall govern the DU’s function of providing connection services to a qualified contestable customer.
The DWSA, on the other, is an agreement between the RES and the DU and this is linked to the provision of services “for the conveyance of electricity through the distribution system that involves the use of the wires, poles, substations and transformers to meet the demand of RES customers.”
The ERC acknowledged that the template contracts were proposed by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) but they went through comments and rigorous public consultations before these were approved. (MMV)   source