Published
December 14, 2016, 10:01 PM By Myrna M. Velasco
The skirmish engulfing
the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is regrettably shunting aside the
much-needed focus on the implementation of retail competition and open access
(RCOA) in the restructured electricity sector – one of the major reforms that
the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) has envisioned.
Ultimately, this is a
policy milestone that will afford qualified customers on their much hankered
for “power of choice” when it comes to their preferred electricity service.
With calls for
abolition of the ERC, power retail competition is also being cast into throes
of uncertainty – that’s because it is the industry’s regulatory body that is
setting the rules on retail competition with required policy underpinning from
the Department of Energy (DOE).
This then prompted
consumer advocate group Action for Consumerism and Transparency in Nation
Building (ACTION) to call on the lawmakers to re-focus their attention on
implementation of policy reforms that will be beneficial to electricity
consumers in particular and the Filipino nation in general.
According to ACTION
spokesperson Jake Silo, “every time RCOA is delayed, they (consumers) end
up paying the price.”
The ERC and DOE earlier
agreed on a February 2017 timeline for the mandatory implementation of retail
competition in the power industry – but with the controversy hounding the ERC,
some parties are still trying to snag such envisioned competitive phase in the
industry.
The issuance of the
retail competition rules in May this year had been initially blocked by cases
filed against the ERC and DOE, but a temporary restraining order issued by the
Supreme Court in October has reversed that fate.
Inauspiciously, Silo
said “everything is up in the air all over again because the talk has shifted
to abolishing the industry regulator.”
He stressed, “if our
government and lawmakers are serious about their pledge to free consumers from
the burden of high electricity costs, then it is incumbent upon them to
consider very carefully the ramifications of disrupting energy sector reforms
at this critical juncture.”
Silo thus called on
Congress to ponder on this: “Before (they) jump on the ‘abolish the ERC
bandwagon,’ they might do well to consider that in a multi-billion peso
industry, why is the world turning on the anxieties of one person over a
P490,000 contract that wasn’t even awarded?”
He added “what is the
net effect of abolishing the ERC or even contemplating on it at this critical
juncture? These are the questions begging for answers.”
He was apparently
referring to an incident at the Commission that had triggered all the nasty
developments now befalling the regulatory body.
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