Metro Manila, November 28 ------ President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. “hopes” the Court of Appeals (CA) will reconsider its order on the rate hike petition of San Miguel Corporation’s South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC).
The CA has granted the SPPC’s bid to suspend the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) order denying the conglomerate's petition for higher charges. The ERC also said the order will also suspend the conglomerate’s power supply agreement (PSA) with the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) powered by the Ilijan Natural Gas plant in Batangas. "This Court grants the TRO and hereby suspends the implementation of the PSA,” the ERC said quoting the copy of TRO it received.
“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 in a statement. “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. In August, the SPPC and Meralco sought temporary price adjustments to recover losses suffered due to record-high fuel prices amid the Ukraine-Russia war. The ERC denied the rate hike petition, noting that a price hike would affect 7.5 million Meralco customers in Metro Manila and parts of Central Luzon and Calabarzon.
“If these PSAs are immediately suspended, this brings us precisely to the situation which we at the ERC have sought to avoid with our ruling that required the proper observance of the terms of the PSA, including the contractually-agreed process of termination,” said ERC chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta in a statement.
Source: cnnphilippines.com
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