Panay Electric Co. (PECO) has filed a motion for reconsideration (MR) to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) over its move to revoke its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) and granting one to More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) last week.
PECO lawyer Estrella Elamparo told reporters in a briefing in Manila yesterday it has requested the conduct tomorrow, March 11, of a hearing on the MR
“We asked the ERC in the motion we filed today to immediately reverse that order that it issued (revoking PECO’s CPCN). The ERC itself is tasked to conduct hearings upon issuance of a provisional authority. Under ERC rules, a provisional authority has to be heard and it still has 30 days to conduct the hearing but because of the urgency of the situation, we asked the hearing to be conducted this Wednesday,” Elamparo said.
When sought for comment, the ERC said it will evaluate the MR.
Last week, a three-page order issued by the ERC said MORE Power has complied with the requirement to acquire adequate distribution assets after it took “possession and deployed personnel to man and oversee” all five substations in Iloilo City’s five districts and all the distribution lines. This follows the issuance of a writ of possession by the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court as an exercise of the new utility’s power to expropriate all distribution assets in the city.
