Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
In deference to the
temporary restraining order (TRO) of the Supreme Court, the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) sounded off that it will not act on extending or permitting
continued service offer of retail electricity suppliers (RES) that have expired
licenses.
ERC Chairperson Agnes
T. Devanadera admitted that they have their hands tied on the matter, “because
of the pending RCOA (retail competition and open access) case in the SC.”
She thus noted that
regulatory action would not be exercised on the seven expired RES licenses – at
least within the pendency of resolution of the RCOA’s temporary restraining
order.
“We will only act if
there is already an order from the Court,” she stressed, noting that with the
status quo, the concerns of the RES will not be in their line-up of ‘to do
list’ in the next 60 days that its suspended Commissioners had been allowed to
be back in office.
The Retail Electricity
Suppliers Association, Inc. (RESA) had elevated their concern to Energy
Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, particularly on their bid to be allowed with their
service offers despite the lingering dilemmas of the power industry.
The plea of the RES
players would be for them to be given the same leverage as getting allowed on
service continuity, similar to what was earlier prescribed for the power plants
with pending or un-acted certificates of compliance by the ERC.
Nevertheless, that
appeal had been anchored on the suspension then of the ERC Commissioners – and
on their return to office, that premise may have already been negated.
“We have TRO on that
case. So what will happen there is – even if these RES licenses expired,
there’s really nothing we can do about it,” Devanadera stressed.
She added that on
forward direction, the ERC will need to consult the Office of the Solicitor
General (OSG) as to how they will handle specific appeal or filing with the
Commission relative to the case.
That has also been in
line with the recent Circular issuance of the Department of Energy (DOE) that
had effectively diverted its position on the RCOA policy – chiefly after the
issuance of the high court’s restraining order.
“The last time we went
to see the SolGen (Solicitor General Jose Calida), it was just to ask whether
they will continue handling the case for ERC. We have to ask them because of
the difference of opinion also of the OSG and DOE because of the (DOE’s)
Circular,” the ERC chief said.
She narrated that the
response they had gotten was “for the OSG not being able to represent DOE
anymore because of their difference in opinion…so when we went to clarify, the
SolGen said, we will continue to represent you (ERC).”
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