Energy dep’t asks Palace to appoint temporary ERC officials

ENERGY Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi has asked the Office of the President to temporarily appoint commissioners at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to take the place of the four off icials who have been suspended for one year by the Ombudsman.

Mr. Cusi “assures everybody that we will do everything that we can so that there will be no power interruptions,” Energy Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella said in a news conference on Wednesday at the Department of Energy (DoE) head off ice in Taguig City.

He said the secretary gave his assurance in view of fears that the approval of power supply agreements ( PSAs) might be delayed. The five- person ERC requires a quorum to approve these agreements.

ERC-approved PSAs are a key milestone for lenders to fund the construction of power plants. These deals between developers and electricity distribution utilities provide certainty to lenders that power projects will have ready buyers of the plants’ output.

“The secretary also wrote a letter to the Off ice of the President to look into the possibility of appointing temporary commissioners,” Mr. Fuentebella said.

He said he was not informed by Mr. Cusi on who might serve as temporary commissioners.

He also said that the DoE has a pending request for the President to put the ERC under the “administrative supervision” of the department “to ensure that what we are doing are all aligned.”

He said the DoE’s request to the President was sent around the time that the four commissioners — Alfredo J. Non, Gloria Victoria C. YapTaruc, Josefina Patricia A. Magpale-Asirit and Geronimo D. Sta. Ana. — were ordered suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman.

The ERC earlier said the suspension of the four commissioners would put on hold funding for P1.588 trillion worth of energy-related projects and capital outlays that will ultimately affect millions of Filipinos.

ERC Chairman Agnes T. Devanadera said she prepared a letter for the President laying down the possible impact of the “paralysis” at the commission.

The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the suspension of the four, along with the previous ERC chairman, in connection with the revised implementation date of the competitive selection process (CSP), which it said favored a few power supply contracts.

CSP requires these contracts between power generation companies and distribution utilities to be subjected to price challenges, a process that is aimed at lowering electricity costs.

Ms. Devanadera said the “debilitating impact” of the Ombudsman’s decision to suspend the four incumbent commissioners “will render the operations of the agency in severe paralysis.”

She said as a collegial body, the presence of at least three members of the commission is needed to constitute a quorum to enable the ERC to adopt any ruling, order, resolution, decision or other acts of the commission in the exercise of its quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative functions. —