Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- June 4, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Instead of
blocking a major reform in the power industry, the Energy Regulatory Commission
(ERC) urged Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to back changes aimed to cater to the
best interest of consumers.
The power regulator called on
Meralco to extend its full support to the new implementation guidelines on
Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) after the power distributor sought
court relief to block the new rules.
ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar
said the RCOA marks a major milestone in the country’s bid to make electricity
rates more affordable to end-users, which puts “the power of choice of
electricity supplier in the hands of the customers.”
“RCOA is designed to change the
current situation where customers do not have the choice as to who will supply
their power requirements and are dependent on utilities designated purely on
the basis of geographical territory,” he said.
RCOA aims to empower end-users that
are part of the contestable market, or contestable customers, by giving them
the choice to choose their supplier of electricity aimed to foster competition
in in the generation and supply sector.
“Through RCOA, more captive
customers will be able to graduate into the so-called contestable market where
all retail electricity suppliers compete,” Salazar said.
The ERC chair said he finds no
strong reason “or Meralco to block a mechanism “which would be good for the
retail customer base in its present service area.”
“I am confident that Meralco will
see that the RCOA is good both for its customers and its business,” Salazar
said.
Meralco, through ACCRA Law firm,
filed a petition with Pasig Regional Trial Court - Branch 157 last May 27,
asking the local court to declare the recent issuances of the Department of
Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on RCOA rules null and
void.
Salazar said the direction of the
power sector is “clearly towards higher levels of competition which would
assure all types of customers the best and affordable rates.”
Earlier, the ERC moved the
effectivity date of the Competitive Selection Process (CSP) policy, another
reform in the power sector, from Nov. 6, 2015 to April 30, 2016.
The CSP requires all distribution
utilities and electric cooperatives to conduct an open and competitive process
in selecting the power generating company from whom they are to purchase their
supply for the captive markets.
“We can no longer set back gains of
the power sector – it can only move forward and the direction is clearly that
of competition,” Salazar said.
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