THE Supreme Court has directed the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission to comment on the petition seeking to stop the regulations that compel big electricity consumers with at least one megawatt monthly demand to abandon their current contracts and deal only with any of the power suppliers chosen by the ERC.
In an en banc resolution, the SC also directed the DoE and the ERC to comment on the plea for a temporary restraining order .
“The Court directed respondents to comment on the Petition for Certiorari as well as the application for Temporary Restraining Order within a non-extendible period of 10 days from notice.
The order came as the high court took note of the the Feb. 26, 2017 deadline imposed by the ERC on end-users to enter into retail supply contracts with accredited retail electricity suppliers.
The SC acted on the petition filed by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ateneo De Manila University, San Beda College (Alabang), and mall owner Riverbanks Development Corporation.
The petitioners stressed the new regulations would not promote free competition among power suppliers and would lead to higher prices of electricity that would impact negatively on the economy.
In particular, the petitioners assailed the following regulations, which they claimed would violate their right to due process and equal protection, and for being an unreasonable exercise of police power:
1. DoE Circular No. DC2015-06-0010 – Providing Policies to Facilitate the Full Implementation of Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) in the Philippine Electric Power Industry.
2. ERC Resolution No. 05, Series of 2016 – A Resolution Adopting the 2016 Rules Governing the Issuance of Licenses to Retail Electricity Suppliers (RES) and Prescribing the Requirements and Conditions Therefor.
3. ERC Resolution No. 10, Series of 2016 – Adopting the Revised Rules for Contestability.
4. ERC Resolution No. 11, Series of 2016 – Imposing Restrictions on the Operations of Distribution Utilities and Retail Electricity Suppliers in the Competitive Retail Electricity Market.
5. ERC Resolution No. 28, Series of 2016 – Revised Timeframe for Mandatory Contestability, amending Resolution No. 10.
According to the petitioners, the DoE and ERC regulations prohibit a distribution utility from engaging in the supply business as a “local RES” or a retail supplier within its franchise.
The petitioners described as arbitrary the deadline imposed on big power consumers to enter into new contracts not later than Feb. 26, 2017 or be slapped with a penalty of disconnection of service or payment of 10 per cent premium on their contract price or the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market price, whichever is higher.
They pleaded for the issuance of a temporary restraining order from the SC.
Named respondents in the petition were Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, ERC Chair Jose Vicente Salazar, and ERC Commissioners Alfredo Non, Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Patricia Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana.
