Group urges Duterte to resolve ERC impasse

A group of independent electricity producers has directly appealed to President Duterte for an immediate resolution of the Energy Regulatory Commission’s inability to function fully with four members of the agency having been suspended.

“(We) respectfully emphasize our concern that the energy industry needs a fully functional commission in order to effectively implement their mandate in accordance with the (Electric Power Industry Reform Act),” the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc. (Pippa) said in a letter to the President dated Jan. 24.

Representing 28 electricity producers with a total of about 17,579 megawatts of generation capacity spread across the nation, Pippa was reiterating statements it made publicly four weeks ago.

“Without a working commission and putting a pause on the important work of the ERC, we will find ourselves without the needed approvals for PSAs (power supply agreements), connection agreements, price determination regulation, compliance certificates and licenses,” the group said.

Pippa added that these matters were all dependent on the ERC and would negatively impact all industry stakeholders — power generators, distribution utilities and even consumers.

“As such, we cannot afford any delay on these activities as it will be detrimental to not only to the industry but to each and every consumer who relies on energy security,” Pippa said.

“Accordingly, we express our sincere hope that this matter can be resolved quickly and fairly, and so that the entire industry can move forward and work to achieve energy security, reliability, accessibility and affordability for all consumers,” the group added.

Last month, ERC Chair Agnes T. Devanadera warned that the Office of the Ombudsman’s suspension of four commissioners had brought the regulatory agency into a paralysis that affected P1.6 trillion worth of business.