The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is pushing for an amendment of the Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 to redirect penalties and use it as refunds to Filipino consumers inconvenienced by power outages.
ERC chairperson and chief executive Monalisa Dimalanta raised this proposal during the second congressional inquiry into the power outage that hit Panay from Jan. 2 to 5 at the House of Representatives on Thursday.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian also wants stiffer penalties imposed against industry players found guilty of mismanaging power-related issues that result in economic losses.
“I propose that, as part of our legislative output, we peg the penalty commensurate with the economic losses experienced by affected areas due to negligence and incompetence,” Gatchalian said.
Dimalanta said in a statement: “In fact, one of the recommendations that we made for the EPIRA amendment is to allow ERC the authority to order the application of penalties for return, either in the form of refund or discounts, to the consumers that suffer the inconvenience or the violation that resulted in the interruption of service.”
“Right now, we don’t have the authority. But if there is an amendment in the law, then we can have that authority to make the application,” she said.
Under the EPIRA, the ERC is authorized to impose penalties ranging from P50,000 to a maximum of P50 million for violations by power industry players.
Dimalanta said the penalties are remitted to the National Treasury. He made the statement at a recent hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Energy regarding the power outage that Western Visayas endured for a few days early in the year, apparently involving the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) and its failure to properly address the issue at hand.
“It’s not worth their while,” said Gatchalian, referring to the maximum penalty of P50 million that the ERC imposes for any violation of the country’s grid code.
According to Gatchalian, the NGCP will take issues seriously if stiffer penalties are imposed for violations. He noted that combined economic losses from the power outage incurred by both Iloilo province and Iloilo City have reportedly reached P5.7 billion.
The ERC said it promptly instituted a proactive approach by mandating hourly updates from the grid operator instead of the previous four-hour intervals following reports of the massive power shortfall in the Visayas.
The ERC immediately launched its own investigation into the incident which led to the region’s economic losses in billions of pesos.
The regulator is also completing the study on the reconstitution of the composition of the Grid Management Committee (GMC) while assessing the most efficient legal framework for this reconstitution.
The GMC is primarily in charge of monitoring the implementation of the Grid Code, as well as reviewing and recommending standards, procedures, and requirements for the connection, operation, maintenance, and development of the country’s power grid.
Dimalanta also vowed to pursue the exacting of full measure of accountability from agencies responsible for the blackout.
ERC said that during the Senate hearing this week, the Department of Energy (DOE) also conveyed that it will also support an amendment to the EPIRA that will seek criminal liability for power company officials deemed responsible for failing to prevent such blackouts.