The Energy Regulatory Commission plans to reach a decision on the request of Manila Electric Co. to approve power supply agreements with seven generators within three months.
ERC commissioners Josefina Asirit, Alfredo Non and Geronimo Sta. Ana vowed to make a ruling within the period, but commissioner Gloria Yap-Taruc said it would be hard to give a timeline.
“We will try because during hearings sometimes there are things that we can’t control… to the extent that we can,” Non, who is currently ERC’s officer-in-charge, said.
Asirit raised the possibility of issuing the decision during the period but could not say if Meralco’s applications would be approved.
Meralco in April last year signed 3,551 megawatts of supply agreements with seven power generators, accounting for 81 percent of their combined capacity of 4,384 MW.
Meralco signed the agreements were signed before the the implementation of the competitive selection process, or CSP, which requires distributors to hold a bidding for their supply requirements, a move that drew flak from various groups.
Non said the ERC would will still hear the petition for intervention filed by several groups.
The ERC asked Meralco to comment o the concerns raised by the various groups.
The Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, along with Sanlakas, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Koalisyong Pabahay ng Pilipinas and other member organizations of the Power for People (P4P) organization filed separate petitions questioning Meralco’s supply agreements.
They alleged that the agreements would have an impact on the environment and that Filipinos might end up paying more for electricity.
Asirit, meanwhile, denied allegations that the ERC extended the CSP deadline to favor Meralco.
“We found it difficult to deal with each application for exemptions to the CSP at that time,” Asirit said, adding the commission decided instead to extend the deadline to give time to Meralco and other distributors and electric cooperatives to comply with the CSP requirement.
Meralco also denied allegations of “midnight contracts” with the seven power plants that would allegedly result in “costlier and dirtier energy from coal.”
Meralco said the claims were baseless and totally unsubstantiated as the power supply agreements were legally filed in accordance with the rules and regulations of the ERC.
It said the power supply agreements aimed to ensure adequate and reliable power supply at the least cost to Meralco’s more than six million customers.
“Each of these PSAs had undergone a very rigorous, lengthy and, at times, contentious negotiation process with the generation companies which actually took many months and years before these agreements were signed and filed with the ERC,” Meralco first vice president and head of legal and corporate governance William Pamintuan said.