THE House of Representatives may look into two recent decisions by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) involving interim Maximum Annual Revenue (iMAR) and the extension of the deadline for compliance with the Competitive Selection Process (CSP) in the procurement of power supply by distribution utilities (DUs).
In a hearing last week, Party-list Rep. Harry Roque of Kabalikat ng Mamamayan called attention to reports that the ERC, while Chairman Jose Vicente B. Salazar was on official leave, had favored a higher iMAR, which could add to the burden to power consumers.
ERC Commissioners Patricia Asirit, Gloria Taruc, Alfredo Non and Geronimo Santa Ana reversed an earlier decision to peg the iMAR at P41 billion and raise it to P43.8 billion.
The reversal made by the three commissioners will translate into some P2.8 billion in increased transmission charges.
Based on the ERC web site, Non has gone on record as proposing an even higher iMAR for the grid corporation at P45.3 billion.
Roque also questioned why the reversal of the earlier decision in favor of the higher iMAR was made by Asirit, Taruc , Non and Santa Ana at the time that Salazar was on leave following investigations related to the suicide of ERC Director Jose Francisco Villa Jr.
Santa Ana was the ERC officer in charge when they moved to raise the iMAR and that Salazar had no part in the reversal of the earlier decision.
Congressmen also called for further probe on the move by the ERC to extend the deadline for the implementation of the CSP, which allegedly paved the way for some “midnight deals” to be sealed between power distributors and generators.
The ERC chairman, upon questioning by the congressmen, admitted he opposed the extension, on record, but had to respect the decision of the majority.
The extension earlier came under fire as cause-oriented groups raised concerns that the move favored some of the country’s biggest power distributors.
The CSP required DUs to call for at least two bids for their power requirements. CSP rules allow them to buy from affiliate power generators only as a last resort.