Manufacturers cite power supply deal irregularities

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) / STOCK

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has received 16 complaints from power consumers due to irregularities in their supply agreements.

Nine of these complaints came from large customers belonging to major manufacturing industries, with a total demand of 123.69 megawatts (MW), according to the ERC.

They raised the issue over the imposition of fuel cost recovery adjustment, which contestable customers claim to be fixed price contracts. Some of them also flagged the unilateral termination by retail electricity suppliers.

Contestable customers refer to customers that are able to choose their supplier through the retail competition and open access program (RCOA), one of the options available to them under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.

Under the RCOA, customers with an average consumption of at least 500 kilowatts for the preceding 12 months are allowed to switch to the competitive retail electricity market.

“While the letters on file cover 16 complaints with the ERC, it appears that many more contestable customers are affected, thus, this 126MW is just a fraction of the capacity affected. We are taking this seriously especially since these contestable customers belong to industries which are critical to our economic recovery,” said ERC Chair and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta in a statement.

The ERC escalated the matter to the Department of Energy and the Department of Trade and Industry to work on the next steps to safeguard the interests of the affected contestable customers.

Likewise, it called on the Retail Electricity Suppliers Association to advise its members to exercise restraint in enforcing notices of disconnection. INQ

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