THE Supreme Court has taken up the cudgels for consumers and industries with its decision stopping the Department of Energy and Energy Regulatory Commission from enforcing their regulatory issuances on retail competition and open access.
This was the reaction issued by the Alyansa ng mga Gurong Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Mamamayan and Federation of Philippine Industries following the high court’s ruling on the issue.
“If a TRO was not issued, customers who have not yet found a supplier of their own choice or those who were constrained to sign a contract with a supplier under duress and unfavorable terms would have suffered clear and irreparable damage because the ERC Resolutions would have had the effect of increasing their cost of electricity. This would have also effectively restricted and shackled free competition, which would have in turn placed them in an unfavorable and disadvantaged position,” Agham president Angelo Palmones said, in a statement.
The group said the relief from the high tribunal prevented a situation placing industries and consumers in such unfavorable and disadvantaged position, if the assailed regulatory policies are not stopped.
Because of this, the party-list group pleaded the SC to take a swift action making the injunction permanent “to safeguard against the clear and unmistakable effects of restricting competition and curtailing customer choice.”
“At the end of the day, AGHAM believes that choice competition and our free market system should be allowed to operate without any government intervention. This is clearly enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines,” Agham said.
FPI welcomed the granting of the TRO by the Supreme Court against the implementation of these ERC resolutions and DoE circular.
FPI had also questioned the same ERC Resolutions and DoE Circular before the Pasig RTC and the SC in a separate case, for being anti-consumer, anti-competition, and anti-poor, contrary to the spirit and intent of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
FPI stressed that these resolutions are unconstitutional and run counter to “the spirit of free market and competitive environment as espoused by Epira, and will have the effect of increasing the cost of electricity to consumers.”
FPI said these resolutions effectively limit the choice of customers to select their power supplier and compel them to become part of the contestable market under pain of severe penalty. FPI also questioned that the Resolutions require their members to abandon their chosen supplier even if the latter is offering the lowest tariff.
Petitioners Ateneo de Manila University and San Beda College Alabang in their joint statement said it is very encouraging that their joint petition has been declared by the SC as successfully establishing a clear, legal right to the TRO, as they seek to uphold the spirit of Epira, which protects the freedom and the rights of all power consumers.
“”‹”‹Admittedly, it would be very difficult for academic establishments like San Beda College Alabang to meet the proposed deadline by ERC and DoE of Feb. 26, 2017 forcing customers to enter into new retail supply contracts or otherwise suffer the consequence of being disconnected from the distribution utility or being made to pay a supplier of last resort a 10 percent premium between the higher contract cost and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market,” said Fr. Aelred Nilo, OSB, Director for Finance, Administration & General Services of San Beda College Alabang.
For his part Ateneo De Manila president Fr. Jose RamonVillarin, SJ., said: “ADMU believes that our government and regulating bodies should ultimately seek to protect our basic, constitutional right to freedom of choice. And this right should extend to all electricity consumers. If we are allowed to choose the best supplier for our needs in a market that is allowed to work freely and for the common good, then such a scenario will be most beneficial to all consumers concerned, especially those smaller scale contestable customers like schools and universities that may have a difficult time searching for a new contract.”