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Marcos hopes CA will reconsider TRO on San Miguel power rate petition


President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. expressed hope that the Court of Appeals (CA) will reconsider its move to temporarily suspend the power supply agreement (PSA) between San Miguel Corp. subsidiary South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC) and the Manila Electric Company (Meralco).

In a statement on Sunday, the Office of the Press Secretary officer-in-charge Cheloy Garafil said that Marcos pointed out that the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the CA was against the PSA as it will have an “extremely deleterious effect” on power rates.

“The implementation of the PSA between Meralco and San Miguel, it is unfortunate that this has happened, it will cause further dislocations and possible price increase for power,” Marcos said.

“We hope that the CA will reconsider and include in their deliberations the extremely deleterious effect this will have on power prices for ordinary Filipinos,” he added.

The TRO was issued by the CA 14th Division on November 24, following a petition filed by the San Miguel Corp. subsidiary.

The petition stemmed from the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) decision on September 29 to reject the pleas of SPPC, San Miguel Energy Corp., and Meralco to hike the generation charge.

The companies cited higher prices for coal and natural gas materials used to produce electricity.

The ERC said it denied the plea since it ruled that the agreed price in the PSA is fixed by nature and the grounds for increase cited by SPPC and Meralco were not among the exceptions that would allow for price adjustment.

However, SPCC said that the ERC acted with grave abuse of discretion in denying its rate increase petition when it interpreted the rights of SPPC and Meralco under the PSA.

ERC Chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta had also expressed concern over the instantaneous effect of the TRO.

Dimalanta said this will consequently expose approximately 7.5 million registered Meralco consumers in the National Capital Region and other areas in Region III and IV to higher electricity prices without the preparation usually observed in the case of PSA termination. —Giselle Ombay/KG, GMA Integrated News

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