CPA-lawyer is next new ERC Commissioner

Acertified public accountant (CPA)-lawyer is the next appointee at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), taking on the post vacated by former Commissioner Geronimo D. Sta. Ana who resigned last year.

According to highly placed sources, the appointment papers of Paul Christian Cervantes, a partner at accounting firm Reyes Tacandong & Co., is already due for release by the Office of the President as of this writing and will be transmitted to ERC Chairperson Agnes Devanadera.

The new commissioner will reportedly show up at the ERC offices today and he will likely be starting work next week.

Cervantes earned his juris doctor (JD) degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law and had his accountancy degree from the University of Sto. Tomas.

His professional track record spans over 10 years in handling tax and corporate advisory works to various corporate organizations and businesses.

Prior to his stint at Reyes Tacandong, Cervantes also worked for two years as senior associate at the tax advisory and advocacy group of SGV & Co accounting firm.

The incoming ERC Commissioner will complete the leadership of the power industry’s regulatory body – and with him coming into the fold, it is anticipated that decisions and processes at the Commission will finally turn faster.

The ERC had one void at its Commission-level since September last year following Sta Ana’s decision to cut short his term which is supposed to expire yet in year 2022.

The regulatory body of the restructured electricity sector has been saddled with case-backlogs; and based on targets set by the ERC chairperson, it would want to resolve and decide on at least 1,000 cases by first quarter this year.

Many of the pending works they would need to focus their attention on are expiring power supply agreements; as well as the approval of newly filed petitions so capacity additions won’t suffer delays in reaching commercial operations.

The Commission will also need to sort out modifications on the performance-based regulation of tariff setting for regulated power utilities (like the distribution utilities and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines).