Published October 9, 2019, 10:00 PM By Myrna M.
Velasco
Power utility giant Manila Electric
Company (Meralco) and its counter-party generation companies (GenCos) in the
recently signed power supply agreements (PSAs) are ready to file their joint
applications, but the ongoing policy tug-of-war between the Department of
Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is seen impairing any
expectation of fast or timely deliberations and approval of the power supply
deals.
Until now, Meralco and the six PSAs
it inked with the winning GenCos in its competitive selection processes (CSPs)
last month had not been filed yet with the ERC, because the regulatory body
won’t accept the filings unless there is certification from the DOE that the
utility firm had indeed undertaken the requisite CSP exercises.
Three (3) PSAs were signed with the energy
firms of San Miguel and PHINMA Energy groups for baseload capacity of 1,200
megawatts that shall be delivered to Meralco’s load network starting December
26 this year; and three (3) more PSAs were inked with San Miguel, PHINMA Energy
and First Gen of the Lopez group for its 500MW mid-merit capacity requirements
that will also start delivery in December.
Nevertheless, prior to the filing of
the joint petitions of the CSP-underpinned PSAs, ERC Chairperson Agnes T.
Devanadera had raised to the attention of Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi that
the regulatory body will require DOE’s certification before it will accept the
filings of the DUs for PSA approvals.
“In order to comply with the Supreme
Court decision in the APB (Alyansa Para Sa Bagong Pilipinas Inc) case, the ERC
shall only accept and review applications for approval of a power supply
agreement (PSA) that contain a certification from the DOE attesting to the
PSA’s compliance with DOE Department Circular No. DC2018-02-003,” Devanadera
has stated in her correspondence to the energy chief.
When asked on this ERC requirement,
however, DOE Director Mario C. Marasigan said “we are looking for the basis of
the certification, but at the moment, we find none.”
Until such deadlock between the two
agencies is resolved though, the PSAs signed by Meralco with the GenCos will be
confronted with uncertainties as to when they can file the applications and
seek approvals for such.
The costs of the PSAs cornered by
Meralco in its recent CSPs had been lower than the previous contracts it had
underwritten, hence, these are seen resulting in billions of savings for
consumers over the stretch of the PSAs.
It was gathered that during the
Meralco CSPs carried out by a third party bids and awards committee (TPBAC),
officials from the DOE sat as observer in the process – and those who attended
included Undersecretary Jesus Posadas, Assistant Secretary Robert Uy and Power
Bureau Director Marasigan.
The TPBAC indicated that it also
invited ERC officials to participate as “observer” in the CSP activities, but
the regulatory body did not reply to the invitations and had not sent anyone to
observe in the auction process.
According to Meralco, all the six
PSAs that it attempted to file last September 18 already complied with the requisite
publication requirements.
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