Energy regulator urges quick action on its request for expanded powers
THE GOVERNMENT should act expeditiously on strengthening the powers of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), via amendments to the law that liberalized the power industry if it wants power prices to fall, the ERC said.
ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Monalisa C. Dimalanta said President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Congress must act with urgency on the ERC’s request. It said the new powers will help it better police the power market and bring prices down.
“With the support of the executive certifying as urgent the amendment of EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act) to support… reforms in the ERC, we (are) also urging Congress to support us in implementing these urgent structural reforms so that we can be more effective in our regulatory functions,” she said at a budget briefing in the House of Representatives.
A measure amending the power law is among the priority bills set by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council for the 19th Congress. House bills seeking to amend the EPIRA remain pending with the House energy committee.
Congress needs to look into expanding the offices responsible for handling regulatory concerns, Ms. Dimalanta told BusinessWorld. “We only have one service that deals with CAPEX (Capital Expenditures), PSAs (Power Service Agreements), Rate Resets, Over-Under, and UCME (universal charge for missionary electrification).”
“Our structure really needs to be addressed,” she said. “Most of our backlog is really in regulatory operations.”
The government needs to segregate the regulatory scope of ERC’s operations to help it better perform its mandate, she added.
Ms. Dimalanta also recommended streamlining the process to allow freer entry of electric supply. “It’s really about streamlining the process so that more supply can come in,” she said, thereby making power cheaper. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio