CONSUMER group Power for People Coalition (P4P) yesterday asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to review and nullify resolutions issued by the Department of Energy in 2015 related to power supply agreements of distribution utilities.
In a petition for certiorari, P4P counsel Luke Espiritu asked the appellate court to void two DOE resolutions which dismissed their petition in April last year due to lack of jurisdiction.
To recall, the coalition had asked the DOE to rectify a provision of its 2015 circular mandating all distribution utilities to supply electricity in the least cost manner to their market through a competitive selection process.
But the coalition pointed out that the circular did not cover or apply to power supply agreements with tariff rates that were already approved or were applied and already waiting for approval by the Energy Regulatory Commission prior to the effectivity of the DOE circular.
P4P said then said that this left consumers the burden of shouldering any increase in electricity costs.
“The contracts that did not undergo CSP lock Mindanao consumers for example into years of exorbitant electricity prices. Plus, the fact that these rates are even higher than the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market illustrates how preposterously expensive they are,” part of the petition said.
It is for this reason, Espiritu argued that the CA should nullify the DOE resolutions as it was issued in grave abuse of discretion.
“It is also within the power of administrative agency, such as the DOE, to entertain actions calling for the exercise of such agency’s mandate,” he added.
Lastly, the petition asked the CA to nullify the non-retroactivity clause of the assailed DOE circular.
