Retail power suppliers say no SC response to their position paper

RETAIL ELECTRICITY suppliers have submitted a position paper to the Supreme Court amid a continuing industry impasse after the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) that put on hold rules governing retail competition and open access (RCOA).

“We filed in June ... We received the resolution that the court accepted dated June 27,” Raymond R. Roseus, president of the Retail Electricity Suppliers Association, told reporters on Thursday on the sidelines of the Department of Energy’s ( DoE) “E-Power Mo” information campaign on recent developments in the sector.

“Our intervention has been recognized,” said Mr. Roseus, who is also Aboitiz Power Corp.’s assistant vice-president for industry relations.

“So far we haven’t gotten any feedback if the court has taken action on any of the pleadings,” he said.

He said the impasse meant that the processing of new and renewal retail electricity supplier applications remains suspended.

Mr. Roseus said the association is also aware of the pleading made by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to seek guidance from the high court on the way forward for RCOA in view of the TRO.

Rules governing RCOA are meant to give consumers whose consumption reached a set threshold the “power of choice” to buy electricity from ERC- licensed retail electricity suppliers (RES).

That power was questioned as the rules made mandatory the switch from being a captive customer of a distribution utility to one that can choose to forge a power supply contract with a licensed RES.

Republic Act No. 9136 or Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 ( EPIRA), the law that restructured the energy industry and privatized the government’s power generation assets, called for the passage of rules on retail competition.

Regulations issued by the ERC and DoE have been on hold after several entities sought and secured a TRO from the Supreme Court in February 2017.

The order put on hold the mandatory switching of those with an average peak consumption of 750 to 999 kilowatts. The mandatory switch would have taken effect on June 26, 2017. The voluntary switching for those using at least one megawatt remained in effect. It became mandatory for them on Dec. 26, 2016.

Sought for comment, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said this department had sought a legal opinion from the Solicitor General if he will be held in contempt if the DoE lowers the threshold and make voluntary the shift to retail electricity suppliers. He said the government lawyer has yet to reply. —