Philippines: ERC asks Supreme Court to lift TRO on RCOA shift

Philippines: ERC asks Supreme Court to lift TRO on RCOA shift

THE ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION (ERC) IS URGING THE SUPREME COURT (SC) TO
LIFT THE TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER (TRO) ON THE MANDATORY SHIFT TO THE
RETAIL COMPETITION AND OPEN ACCESS (RCOA) REGIME AFTER PUTTING LARGE POWER
CONSUMERS ON HOLD IN ITS MIGRATION TO THE NEW SCHEME SINCE FEBRUARY.

Commissioner Gloria Yap-Taruc and OIC Alfredo Non spoke before the Senate on
the deliberation of the ERC's budget yesterday.

"They're the ones who issued the TRO. It's impacting on the industry and our
hands are tied. We have to seek guidance from them on how to move forward,"
Non said.

As per the energy regulator's plea to the Court, ERC seeks clarification if
it can lower the threshold to 750-kWh on a voluntary basis and if it can
issue retail electricity supplier (RES) licenses since the power agency is
pounded with numerous pending applications and cannot proceed with the
approval of those filings.

In February, the SC issued a TRO on the mandatory migration to the RCOA
effective in the same period until end-June of this year, for both users
with at least 1-MW usage and 750-kWh demand respectively.

Following groups and companies from various sectors sought the TRO issuance
on the power agency including Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
San Beda College Alabang Inc., Ateneo de Manila University and Riverbanks
Development Corp., which said the new rules supposedly limits the accredited
suppliers for big power consumers which must be given a choice whether to
stay with their current distribution utility suppliers.

The RCOA provision is yet to be implemented since EPIRA's reenactment in
2001.

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Link to Original Article:
http://powerphilippines.com/2017/08/24/erc-supreme-court-lift-tro-rcoa/

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com