(philstar.com) | Updated December 23, 2013 - 2:13pm
Electrical post photo by Joey Rozzier
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - The Supreme Court en banc on Monday issued a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Manila Electric Company's (Meralco) P4.15 per kilowatt hour rate increase.
Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te said the Court has set the oral arguments on January 21 to discuss the staggered rate hike that started this month.
Te, meanwhile, clarified that the TRO does not cover the power firm's bills for December.
The tribunal's resolution stemmed from two consolidated petitions questioning the validity of the Energy Regulatory Commission's (ERC) implementation of the record rate increase starting December 9.
The class suits were filed by militant lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc of the House of Representatives and by private organizations led by the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms.
A third petition was filed Monday by militant groups led by Anakpawis requesting the Court to issue a writ of mandamus against the price increase.
Meralco president Oscar Reyes had said that delaying the increase in rates would only prolong the consumers' agony as the power firm needs to purchase electricity from a wholesale provider.
Meralco earlier explained that the increases are warranted at the impending closure of the Malampaya offshore gas field project that recently underwent maintenance.
On Friday night, the ERC ordered Meralco not to implement further increases in its generation charge for January 2014 after the increase in the generation charge for December 2013 of P3.44 per kilowatt-hour.
'Collusion' under probe
The big time rate hike met controversy after several lawmakers called attention to a possible collusion among power suppliers.
The lawmakers said the six power players experienced "unplanned outages" during Malampaya's unscheduled maintenance, forcing Meralco to source more expensive electricity from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, meanwhile, said that even with the Court's TRO, the agency's Office for Competition (OFC) will push through with the investigation on whether the suppliers were in cahoots to force the rate increase.
"SC TRO on Meralco power hike won't affect DOJ-OFC probe as the petitions were the ones questioning the power hike," De Lima said in a statement after the SC issued the TRO.
"It is within OFC's mandate to determine whether there is collusion or violation of competition laws or antitrust laws," she added. source
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