THE Supreme Court will deliberate today petitions seeking to stop the Manila Electric Co. from implementing a P4.15 per kilowatt-hour power rate increase.
An SC insider said the Court has included in its en banc session today the petitions assailing Meralco’s power rate increase, which has been pending since 2013.
The high court issued on Dec. 23, 2013 a 60-day temporary restraining order or until Feb. 23, 2014 against Meralco’s power rate hike.
In another resolution issued last Feb. 18, 2014, the SC extended the TRO to 60 days or until April 22, 2014.
Before its lapse, the Court extended the TRO for a second time but only until it resolves the main petition.
The restraining order was issued based on the petition filed by the so-called Makabayan bloc in Congress led by former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares.
The petitioners insisted that if the TRO will not be extended after it was set to lapse on April 22, the power firm will be free to charge millions of its consumers the said the rate despite the pendency of the petitions assailing its legality.
The petitioners earlier warned that the lifting of the TRO would result to inflation as the rate hike will add billions to production cost of manufacturers, which would push the prices of goods and services up.
In assailing the legality of the rate increase, the petitioners argued that the ERC committed grave abuse of discretion in approving Meralco’s proposal to pass on to consumers the increase in generation cost without complying with the requirements.
The groups said the ERC abused its discretion in provisionally approving the proposal of Meralco without conducting a public hearing as required based on the Implementing Rules and Regulation of the Epira or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
They added that the ERC’s approval of Meralco’s proposal to pass on to consumers the increase in the generation cost for November 2013 violates the Epira Law.
According to the petitioners, the ERC under Section 43 of R.A. 9136 of the Epira Law, is mandated to promote competition and penalize abuse of market power in the restructured electricity industry.
The TRO covers generation companies such as Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd, AES Philippines, San Miguel Energy Corp., South Premiere Power Corp., First Gas Power Corp. and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
Also covered by the TRO is the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation.
Meralco earlier attributed the abrupt increase in the generation cost to supposed maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya facility that supplies natural gas to three major power plants—Ilijan, San Lorenzo and Sta Rita—which supply an aggregate capacity of 2700 MW electricity.
It also said that the shutdown of Malampaya coincided with the scheduled maintenance of two other plants, Pagbilao 2 and Sual 1, which also collectively contribute over 950 MW to its requirements.
Meralco said because of the events, it was forced to buy expensive power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
On Dec. 9, 2013, respondent Energy Regulatory Commission approved Meralco’s request for a rate hike.