The Supreme Court (SC) has voided issuances of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that forced qualified consumers under retail competition and open access (RCOA) program to source their electricity from a limited pool of accredited suppliers.
RCOA allows customers to freely choose their electricity suppliers if they meet the average monthly consumption threshold.
The decision uploaded in SC’s website on September 24, allow customers with monthly consumption of 500 kilowatts (kw) and above to enter contracts with any power supplier or distribution utilities (DUs) and electric cooperatives.
The SC issued the decision based on consolidated petitions including those of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry that sought to void DOE Circular 2015-06-0110 and ERC Resolutions 5, 10, 11 and 28.
The voided issuances required power customers with consumption of 500 kW and above to enter contracts only with 23 ERC-licensed retail electricity suppliers (RES) with stipulated deadlines. Failure to comply to the said mandates also warranted disconnection of customers from their respective DUs.
The invalidated issuances also prohibited DUs from participating as suppliers and ordered the winding down of operations of all local RES, thereby limiting the number of RES where consumers can source their electricity.
The SC also sided with petitioners’ appeal that migrating to another supplier should be voluntary in order so as not to violate free enterprise and anti-trust laws.
Prior to the official voiding of said issuances, a temporary restraining order was issued in February 2017 as they were deemed to go against consumers’ power of choice. J. Macapagal
