ERC urged to junk motion of 3 firms to get out of power deal

MANILA, Philippines — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) should dismiss the joint motion filed by three leading power corporations to relieve them from their power supply agreements that set a fixed cost of electricity, the United Filipino Consumers and Commuters (UFCC) said in a statement on Saturday.

The three corporations — Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC), and San Miguel Electric Corp. (SMELC) — filed the motion in a hearing conducted by the ERC on June 9.

“This appeal filed by three giant corporations before the Energy Regulatory Commission is alarming as they want to junk the sacred agreement that gives protection to their consumers against sudden increases in electricity rates,” Javellana said in Filipino in the UFCC manifesto.

“That’s why we’re calling on the ERC to stand by their mandate to protect citizens against these giant power corporations,” the manifesto added.

PSA is a bilateral agreement between a generation company (GenCo) and a distribution utility (DU) for the purchase and supply of power.

Earlier, the ERC issued a resolution ordering Meralco to refund its customers for distribution-related charges amounting to almost P21.8 billion.

This is the fourth refund order issued by the ERC to Meralco since last year.

It also ordered a refund of P13.9 billion in over-recoveries in January 2021, a P4.8-billion refund in February this year, and a P7.7-billion rebate in March also this year.

Those amounts bring the total refund for residential customers to P1.8009 per kWh, according to the ERC.

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