Former President and Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday called the Energy Regulatory Commission an “unappreciated” agency despite its major achievements.
“You have achieved a lot, and if ERC were not around, none of those benefits to the people of the Philippines would have been around. So do not bash yourselves and do not allow others to bash ERC,” Arroyo said during the agency’s 17th-anniversary celebration.
Republic Act No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, was signed into law during Arroyo’s term as president.
Arroyo cited the progressive developments in the energy sector, including the establishment of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market starting in Luzon, then in the Visayas and in Mindanao later this year.
WESM, created under the Epira law, is the country’s trading floor of electricity.
Arroyo said among the achievements of the sector included the interconnection of the Luzon and Visayas grids to the Mindanao grid, the 91-percent electrification of the households, the implementation of prepaid electricity and net metering for consumers with solar panels, reduction of the system loss caps and the adoption of net settlement surplus.
She said these would not have been possible without the regulator’s participation.
Arroyo said while ERC was ‘unappreciated’ as a regulator, the agency’s tasks and its continued existence were important to the country.
The former president and economist said market forces worked best in a competitive regime and should go hand in hand with the development of consumers’ choice of electricity supplier.
Arroyo said the Technical Working Group in Congress decided to adopt a bill that aimed to strengthen the ERC as authored by Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco.
“The Epira law is not perfect. But it is better to have an imperfect symphony that is being performed than a perfect symphony that is never played. If you are not always appreciated, it does not mean that you are not playing an important role. I know you have the energy to cope with the demands of your work in ERC to serve the nation well,” Arroyo said.
The ERC was plagued by several controversies in recent months. Four commissioners of the ERC were suspended twice by the Office of the Ombudsman.