Colmenares: ERC may be criminally liable for allowing Meralco rate hike

Bayan Muna party-list Neri Colmenares said on Wednesday that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) might be criminally liable for approving the petition of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) last year to increase its electricity rate by a record P4.16 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

Colmenares said that the ERC failed in its duty to regulate the power industry when it agreed to Meralco’s request to approve its proposed power rate increase.

“The ERC has already committed a violation under the Anti-Graft Law for reneging on its duty at the very least. [They can also be liable] for the conscious approval of the unjust rate increase,” he said.

Last December, the ERC allowed Meralco to increase electricity rates by P4.15/kWh in three tranches from December 2013 to March 2014.

The Supreme Court, however, issued a temporary restraining order to stop Meralco's record-high power rate hike for 60 days.

Meralco has warned of rotational blackouts if it can no longer pay for generation and transmission charges as a result of the Supreme Court's temporary restraining order on the rate hike.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, meanwhile, has called for a review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 in light of the controversy involving Meralco and its alleged collusion with power generating companies.

EPIRA was passed more than a decade ago to bring power rates down by promoting competition in the energy sector.

Zarate said the perennial brownouts experienced by residents in Mindanao despite the start of the operations of the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market (IMEM) is proof that the EPIRA law is a failure.

The IMEM is a temporary market for electricity that was originally seen as the solution to the power shortage experienced in Mindanao.

“Kailangan sigurong suriin ‘yung EPIRA Law at tingnan kung kailangan bang magbalangkas ng bagong  batas upang palitan na itong 13 year old law na ito kasi talagang nag-fail ito na mag-provide ng mas murang kuryente para sa mga consumers,” Zarate said. — BM, GMA News