SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. said Wednesday it will continue to supply power to Manila Electric Co. despite the Energy Regulatory Commission’s denial of its joint petition for temporary relief in the form of rate hike.
“In the meantime, we will do everything we can to make sure Meralco’s energy supply is not disrupted. Despite the present challenges, we will never withhold our available power capacity to the detriment of the country and the consumers,” the company said in a statement.
“Given the circumstances, we will continue to explore other legal remedies to allow us to sustainably provide for the increasing power needs of our country while meeting our obligations to our various stakeholders,” it said.
SMC Global Power said it remained focused on maximizing existing power assets to help sustain the economy’s recovery, while investing in technologies to facilitate the transition to cleaner energy.
Meralco, South Premiere Power Corp. and San Miguel Energy Corp. filed separate petitions to recover P5 billion from consumers, which would result in an increase of P1.57 per kilowatt-hour in SMC Global Power’s selling rate to Meralco. This would be equivalent to an add-on of P0.30 per kWh in the generation charge of Meralco.
The ERC denied SMC Global’s petition with Meralco for the temporary relief on their 2019 power supply agreements. The regulator said high coal prices and gas constraints could not be considered a “change in circumstances.”
The decision was signed by ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta and commissioners Catherine Maceda, Floresinda Digal, Alexis Lumbatan and Marko Romeo Fuentes.
Lumabatan and Fuentes issued dissenting opinions to the decision, saying the rate impact simulations presented and submitted in evidence by Meralco indicated that the denial of the change in circumstances claims would even expose the consuming public to unknown and even higher rates than granting the same, both in the short-term and in the long-term.
“The temporary relief would have enabled us to preserve few of the last remaining fixed-rate PSAs of Meralco that are responsible for keeping power rates in Metro Manila low compared to other parts of the country, amid surging global fuel prices,” SMC Global Power said.
SMC Global Power had said it planned to terminate its ten-year power supply agreements with Meralco on Oct. 4 without a favorable ruling from the ERC.
Meralco said in an earlier statement it should exert all available remedies to prevent the termination of the PSAs with South Premiere Power Corp. and San Miguel Energy Corp.
Meralco would be forced to tap the electricity spot market or other suppliers offering higher prices if SMC Global Power could not deliver the supply.
