President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. is hoping that the Court of Appeals (CA) will reconsider its decision to suspend the Power Supply Agreement (PSA) between San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Manila Electric Company (Meralco).
In a statement on Sunday, the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said Marcos is worried that the issued TRO on the PSA deal may cause a “deleterious effect” in electricity prices which may burden consumers.
“The implementation of the PSA between Meralco and SMC, it is unfortunate that this has happened,” the President said as quoted by OPS.
On Nov. 24, the 14th division of the CA issued a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against Meralco in favor of SMC’s South Premiere Power Corporation (SPPC).
The SPPC earlier filed a petition to CA after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) denied its proposed rate hike of Php 30 centavos per kilowatt-hour.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, ERC explained that it has denied the SPPC’s price hike petition “since the regulatory body ruled that the agreed price in the PSA is fixed in nature, and the grounds for increase cited by SPPC and MERALCO were not among the exceptions that would allow for price adjustment.”
ERC chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta expressed “grave concern” on the issued TRO, noting that 7.5 million Meralco consumers in the National Capital Region and other areas in Central Luzon and Calabarzon will be affected by the higher electricity prices.
“The fixed price PSA of MERALCO with SPPC covers 670 MW of supply. This, along with the other fixed price PSAs, have been shielding MERALCO consumers for the past several months from the volatility of prices from WESM and automatic fuel pass-through PSAs,” she said.
Dimalanta said they would submit comments to the court for clarification about ERC's regulatory operations service.
”ERC is confident that the Fourteenth Division of the Court of Appeals, consistent with existing jurisprudence, will accord great respect, if not finality, to the regulator’s factual findings because of its special expertise over the energy sector,” she added.
