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Expectations might have been better managed weeks before %arack 2bama launched into his Asian tour. That might have miti gated the sense, after all the pomp and ceremony, that the visit was much ado about nothing really.

Three of the four Asian destina tions 2bama visited might be con sidered “frontline states” there fore expectant of stronger, clearer and more definite signals of support from the leader of the world’s last remaining superpower. They wanted some substantia tion of the much advertised “pivot to Asia.”

-apan, at least, received US recognition of their claims over the Senkaku islands now challenged by China. South .orea is constantly assured by large troop presence of continuing US engagement to dis suade 1orth .orea’s antics.

The Philippines, although most enthusiastically pro US, did not receive clear cut recognition of its South China Sea claims even as it offered a deal for virtual basing rights for the American military. All we got were reiterations about the Mutual efense Treaty being “ironclad” and shibboleths about the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes.

uite to the contrary, 2bama took great care to remind every one that the alliances the US seeks to fortify were not at all intended to “counter” China. The emerging Asian power, after all, is important to the US in ways that far overshadow the minor matter of competing claims for miniscule reefs and shoals.

Malacaxang, to be sure, fantasized about immense political windfall from the 2bama visit. At best, the Palace hoped for a clear 2bama endorsement for the shrill and confrontational policy this administration pursued against China. That did not come. The best 2bama could do was to endorse our resort to inter national arbitration, a process unlikely to obtain a definite resolution of the competing claims since it is not recognized by the counter party.

,n every speech, 2bama emphasized the value of our alliance in terms of calamity assistance. ,n his last event, the American president chose to honor the first responders to olanda’s fury, a team of )ilipino and American soldiers who rushed to Tacloban aboard our aging C transport plane. -ust riding that rickety plane in bad weather is an act of great courage.

Perhaps, the Palace hoped of some sort of endorse ment for the leadership ATuino has provided the country. That might have strengthened the value of the expected ATuino endorsement of Mar Roxas as successor president. Roxas appeared at the planeside departure ceremonies for 2bama, possibly expecting a bear hug.

Apart from praising President ATuino’s parents, 2bama offered no praise for this administration’s imagined achievements. After the routine bilateral talks, the exacerbated state dinner and the meeting with the troops Tuesday morning, the only other thing on 2bama’s calendar was to inspect an electric jeepney made by a )ilipino American joint venture.

The Palace must be disappointed, but then their own expectations might not have been realistically managed to begin with.

After all the hoopla over a rather uneventful visit, we are back dealing with the usual things that tor ment us. 2ne of those is the impending increase in our electricity bills.

)or a while, we hoped that oppressive power price episode 1ovember ecember last year would sort itself out and consumers might somehow benefit from dramatically more benign bills. The ERC finally stepped up to its mandate of protecting the consum ing public and ordered a “recalculation” of prices that prevailed in the wholesale electricity market during those two months of confusion.

The “recalculation” presumes that the 1ovember ecember pricing episode was highly speculative, precipitated by the tight power supply arising from the closure of several Malampaya gas powered plants. The ERC’s “recalculation” formula, based on histori cal pricing patterns, would have reduced wholesale power costs by as much as . ,f implemented, this “recalculated” pricing would have rendered the is sues pending at the Supreme Court effectively moot.

The ERC’s order for “recalculation” was conveyed to the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. PEMC , the agency that administers the spot market. ,n turn, the PEMC issued new invoices to electric cooperatives and distribution utilities such as Meralco. %ecause of the Supreme Court’s TR2, however, Meralco received only the ecember but not the 1ovember invoice.

,t might be too early for consumers to celebrate, however.

The generation companies gencos , who stand to reap windfall profits from the speculative pricing, have challenged the legality of the ERC order to “re calculate” wholesale electricity pricing. That puts the price recalculation on hold. The consumers stand to lose in the long and complex process of adjudication that might be expected from this move.

The gencos have billions of reasons to stop the ERC “recalculation” order in its tracks. The windfall profits they stand to gain will simply evaporate. Strangely, among the gencos standing to gain the biggest wind fall profits are those belonging to government. They are looking at the windfall profits as an opportunity to offset the large operating losses they incurred.

The legal challenge posed by the gencos against the ERC order is a disappointment for consumers expecting early relief from the abnormal power price fluctuations we experienced. The adjudication process could take weeks, months or even years to resolve. ,n the meantime, the burden of the unresolved pricing of the past few months hangs like a monkey on the necks of producers, distributors and consumers alike.

Ultimately, of course, the legal challenge posed by the gencos against the ERC recalculation order undermines the ability of the regulatory commission to discharge its mandate. Should the ERC finally lose the legal contest, it will be a disemboweled regulator and the power sector will become a jungle where the greediest profits the most.