Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) / STOCK
MANILA -The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will ask the Court of Appeals (CA) to reconsider its decision overturning the regulator’s denial of the rate hike petitions of power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and units of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC).
“The ERC, with its counsel, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), will determine the best legal recourse following the joint decision, including the filing of a motion for reconsideration of the CA’s joint decision,” ERC said in a statement on Thursday.
ERC hoped the appellate court would revisit the case records and the arguments made and then uphold the commission’s ruling.
In a June 27 decision, the CA 13th Division ruled that the majority of the ERC acted “with grave abuse of discretion” when it junked the 2022 petitions of Meralco, SMC subsidiary South Premiere Power Corp. and San Miguel Energy Corp. for a rate hike of P0.30 per kilowatt-hour citing the surge in operating costs.
READ: CA junks ERC ruling denying Meralco, SMC rate hike
ERC Chair Monalisa Dimalanta said in a briefing on Thursday that even with the CA’s decision, Meralco rates will not yet be affected since it is not yet final.
“We will still file for motion for reconsideration … We can go all the way to the Supreme Court,” she said.
Clarification
Dimalanta said the ERC would also seek clarification on the CA ruling, noting such cases fall under the jurisdiction of the High Court under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act law.
“How could the CA have issued that, the OSG said? We want to clarify that because that will affect everything in the industry. We wanted that to be clarified because based on Supreme Court (SC) decisions, the SC should be the one making the issuances,” she added.
Dimalanta said the ERC would also clarify if the CA is authorized to resolve legal issues like the Meralco-SMC rate hike appeal.
San Miguel Global Power (SMGP), for its part, lauded the CA’s decision, saying it upholds the constitutional mandate of due process that guarantees the right to be treated fairly and effectively by quasi-judicial bodies such as the ERC.
“It is regrettable that the ERC’s unfair decision early on to reject our joint petition with Meralco for a temporary rate hike—despite proving to be the least cost option at that time for power consumers—resulted in consumers shouldering the burden of much higher electricity rates,” SMGP said.
Meralco shared the same sentiment, saying that the CA decision upheld the companies’ position that granting the rate adjustment was the “least cost option” for the customers rather than buying power from the spot market.
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