FILE PHOTO: The Supreme Court logo. (INQUIRER/LYN RILLON)
MANILA, Philippines — A watchdog group has supported the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) move to appeal before the Supreme Court (SC) a ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) that allowed two power generating arms of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) to walk out on power supply deals with Meralco.
The two power generating arms are the Ilijan gas and Sual coal power plants.
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The appeal was filed last February 29, as confirmed by the Office of the Solicitor General, said Power for People Coalition (P4P) in a statement on Wednesday.
According to P4P convenor, Gerry Arances, their group welcomes the move of the ERC and Chair Monalisa Dimalanta “to uphold its duty of protecting consumers from the attempt by SMC to profit off the rising price of coal and gas by passing them on to consumers.”
“We hope the Supreme Court will see reason and rule that SMC must abide by its contract and cannot raise prices on electricity,” Arances said.
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Last year, SMC won a CA ruling which reversed the ERC decision denying its petition to raise prices from Ilijan gas and Sual coal power plants.
This, according to P4P, is despite both being covered by fixed-rate power supply agreements (PSAs).
P4P said that SMC tried to “collect” an extra P5 million from consumers in 2023, but it did not push because their contract didn’t allow them to change the rates.
“Those PSAs protected consumers in the Meralco franchise area from the ludicrous spike in electricity prices which plagued customers of other distribution utilities in the country at that time,” Arances said.
“In siding with SMC, the CA committed a grave disservice to consumers, exposing them to higher electricity prices even when protected by a contract,” he added.
P4P also said that the Ilijan gas plant is trying to secure a new PSA with Meralco approved by ERC, but at higher prices.
“If SMC is able to secure a new PSA for Ilijan, it will signal that generation companies can jack up prices with impunity and render power supply agreements moot,” the P4P leader said.
“With temperatures rising, consumers will be at the mercy of the power company, a situation that the SC must recognize and prevent by supporting the position of the ERC,” said Arances