The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Tuesday urged government agencies to join the retail aggregation program (RAP), which allows consumers to pool electricity demand and negotiate more competitive rates.
“They are also very capable [of] advocating for this…We really still need to hopefully push for that advocacy among government agencies so that we can show that government leads the way also in this item,” said outgoing ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta.
The RAP allows multiple electricity consumers to aggregate their energy demand to breach the 500-kilowatt threshold needed to source power directly from their preferred supplier.
Dimalanta, who submitted her resignation effective Aug. 8, 2025, said they hope the RAP will eventually reach typical residential households.
She noted the commission was scheduled to discuss this in the third quarter under the roadmap for lowering the retail competition and open access threshold.
“We will see if we can accelerate this, if we can have the roadmap for public consultation maybe by next week because most likely my last meeting with the commission will be by next week,” she said.
“But we’re targeting over the next two years…Metering is quite a challenge. We need to also roll out together with it the AMI [advanced metering infrastructure] or smart metering program,” Dimalanta added.
She also stated that the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, as the central registration body, will need to prepare for the lower threshold.
“So we need to prepare all these things that we need the entire ecosystem to be ready for the household [to] exercise power of choice. Those are all going into the roadmap,” she said.
