THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ateneo De Manila University, San Beda College (Alabang) and mall owner Riverbanks Development Corp. joined forces in filing a petition with the Supreme Court on Tuesday to question regulations recently issued by the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission.
In a new 126-page petition filed by former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo and past Philippine Bar Association president Rodel Cruz of Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia, the petitioners asked the High Court to immediately put a stop to the implementation of the new regulations that compel power consumers with a monthly average peak demand of 1 Megawatt (MW) to abandon their current power supply contracts and enter into new contracts with any of the 23 suppliers chosen by the ERC to supply the contestable market.
Named respondents to the suit are DoE Secretary Alfonso Cusi, ERC Chair Jose Vicente Salazar and incumbent ERC Comissioners Alfredo Non, Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Patricia Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana.
The petition came amid controversy rocking the ERC where Chairman Jose Vicente Salazar has been dragged into a controversy involving corruption for alleged rigged bidding in the procurement office of the agency.
The petitioners questioned the ERC Resolutions authored by Salazar and other Commissioners and DoE Circular that seek to deprive electricity consumers of their basic constitutional right to freedom of choice.
The assailed regulations are:
• DoE Circular No. DC2015-06-0010 titled “Providing Policies to Facilitate the Full Implementation of Retail Competition and Open Access in the Philippine Electric Power Industry;”
• ERC Resolution No. 5, Series of 2016 titled “A Resolution Adopting the 2016 Rules Governing the Issuance of Licenses to Retail Electricity Suppliers and Prescribing the Requirements and Conditions Thereof;”
• ERC Resolution No. 10, Series of 2016 titled “A Resolution Adopting the Revised Rules for Contestability” and
• ERC Resolution No. 11, Series of 2016 titled “A Resolution Imposing Restrictions on the Operations of Distribution Utilities and Retail Electricity Suppliers in the Competitive Retail Electricity Market.”