SMC fails to get TRO to suspend ERC order

THIS time, conglomerate San Miguel Corp. failed to secure a temporary restraining order (TRO) that could have prevented the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) from enforcing its September 2022 order.

On late Thursday, the ERC said the Sixteenth Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) denied the petition for a TRO or preliminary injunction filed by San Miguel Energy Corporation (SMEC) that was meant to suspend implementation of ERC’S September 29, 2022 order.

The ERC order denied the joint motions of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and SMC Global Power units for price adjustments to serve as temporary relief covering a combined P5.2-billion losses incurred by South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC) and San Miguel Energy Corp. (SMEC) from January to May 2022 due to the unprecedented spike in fuel prices.

SPPC and SMEC sought a TRO before the CA, which earlier ruled in favor of SPPC.

In a resolution dated January 13, 2023, copy of which was received by the ERC on January 26 and the Office of the Solicitor General, the CA ruled that SMEC failed to prove its right to a restraining order.

According to the appellate court, ERC’S denial of SMEC’S motion for price adjustment already preserves the status quo—which is the contract price in SMEC and Meralco’s power supply agreement (PSA).

As a result, according to the CA, the grant of SMEC’S TRO will “not serve its purpose, since it will have the effect, not of maintaining the Contract Price, but of setting aside the assailed Order itself, thereby rendering the main case, the petition for certiorari, moot.”

The CA stressed that, if granted, “the writ of injunction will give SMEC the unrestricted power to terminate, at its own will, the PSA to the detriment of public consumers.”

The 16th Division of the CA said that a TRO should not be issued since there is a need for an extensive determination of the merits of SMEC’S case. However, the same court granted SMEC’S motion that the subject case be consolidated with another case with similar facts filed by SPPC pending before the Thirteenth Division of the CA.

As of press time, SMC has not issued any comment.