THE ENERGY Regulatory Commission (ERC) has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) favoring the power units of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), allowing it to suspend its power supply deal with Manila Electric Co (Meralco).
“Yes, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) filed the petition with the Supreme Court,” ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Monalisa C. Dimalanta said in a Viber message on Wednesday.
Ms. Dimalanta said the OSG, which serves as the ERC’s legal counsel, filed the petition on Feb. 29.
This comes after the decision of the appellate court ruling in favor of SMC and Meralco’s rate hike plea.
“We welcome the move of the ERC to uphold its duty of protecting consumers from the attempt by SMC to profit off the rising price of coal and gas by passing them on to consumers. We hope the Supreme Court will see reason and rule that SMC must abide by its contract and cannot raise prices on electricity,” P4P convenor Gerry C. Arances said in a statement.
In 2022, San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp., the power arm of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), filed a rate increase to recover P5 billion of its P15 billion in losses incurred due to a change in circumstances.
The ERC denied SMC’s petition, saying its power supply agreement with Meralco had no basis because the contract is a fixed-rate deal. SMC filed an appeal with the CA, where the appellate court reversed the ruling of the ERC.
“Those PSAs protected consumers in the Meralco franchise area from the ludicrous spike in electricity prices which plagued customers of other distribution utilities in the country during that time. In siding with SMC, the CA committed a grave disservice to consumers, exposing them to higher electricity prices even when protected by a contract,” Mr. Arances said.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
