Due to questions over the terms of reference set by Meralco for its competitive selection process (CSP), Senator Alan Peter Cayetano asked the Energy Regulatory Board to defer its bidding for an additional 600 MW of electricity.
The senator said he wants a review of the terms of reference to ensure that they were fair.
“Madam ERC, I think you should postpone Aug. 2 and look into this, sort this out first,” Cayetano said during the hearing of the Senate committee on energy and committee on ways and means, referring to the date of Meralco’s CSP for the additional 600 MW.
He underscored the pressing need to address the lingering issue of high cost of power that affects both investors and consumers.
“This is not only about the high cost of power but it’s also about energy security,” Cayetano added.
He said a phrase in Meralco’s TOR could be discriminatory because it effectively disqualified Malampaya-fueled power plants.
He said the phrase “if the plant is more than 10 years old” indicated that older power plants were automatically disqualified from taking part in the CSP.
Meralco first vice president Ronaldo Valles initially denied that the TOR stipulated this condition, but later admitted it when pressed by Cayetano.
“The point I am driving through is because of that simple decision, you disqualified those plants using Malampaya gas, is that right? That’s the net effect of that,” Cayetano said.
“I am not an expert here but it doesn’t really take an expert to see that Meralco seems to have favored someone by just the TOR,” he added.
