By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated September 1, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines – The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)
and the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) have teamed up to investigate
alleged anti-competitive practices of generation companies (gencos) in light of
the recent power shortage in Luzon.
ERC chairman and CEO Jose Vicente B.
Salazar said both agencies would formalize the partnership soon to define
specific roles in the investigation.
“The ERC will work hand in hand with
the PCC to determine whether there was indeed market power abuse or
anti-competitive or discriminatory acts committed by some generation companies
or gencos during the recent forced outages,” he said.
Under the Electric Power Industry
Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, the ERC is mandated to monitor and penalize any act
that constitutes market power abuse and/or anti-competitive or discriminatory
behavior by any electric power industry participant.
Meanwhile, the Philippine
Competition Act (PCA) of 2015 mandates the PCC to implement and enforce the
national competition policy in order to ensure the promotion and protection of
the competitive market by prohibiting anti-competitive agreements, abuse of
dominant position, and anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions.
“Having the PCC as an ally of the
ERC will facilitate the investigation and adjudication of alleged collusion
among gencos. We will champion and work for the benefit of Filipino consumers
whose best interests we are mandated to promote and safeguard,” Salazar said.
From July 25 to 29, the National
Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) raised a series of yellow and red alerts
in the Luzon grid after nine power plants went on scheduled and unscheduled
outage.
A yellow alert status means
contingency reserves are below the minimum level set by the regulator but does
not necessarily lead to power outages. The power reserve should be equivalent
to the largest unit of a running power plant, or in this case, the 647-MW unit
of Sual power plant.
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