ERC chair, 3 others, face charges over stalled collusion report

MANILA, Philippines – Party-list lawmakers on Tuesday, November 11, filed graft charges against Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) officials led by chair Zenaida Cruz-Ducut for failure to make public a report on the alleged collusion of power players to jack up energy prices.  

In an 11-page complaint, Bayan Muna Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate slammed the ERC for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Electrial Power Industry Reform Act by refusing to release the report.  

Aside from Ducut, ERC commissioners Alfredo Non, Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, and Josefina Patricia Asirit were also named respondents. 

The report is expected to expose the alleged conspiracy among power players to overcharge people through the undersupply of electrity. 

ERC had committed to release the report on January 6, 2014 but the deadline has been moved at least 3 times since then. As of November, the ERC said the publication of report could take up to 2015. 

Bayan Muna said there was no reason for the ERC to sit on the report since the Malampaya shutdown happened a year ago, and another shutdown is expected to take place in the summer months of 2015. 

The ERC issued an order in March to reduce the P5.35 kilowatts-per-hour increase by 70% during the Malampaya shutdown because the rates were “not reasonable and competitive.”

Besides, detailed reports have also been submitted by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation on the alleged violations. (READ: Petilla: Other plants violated WESM rules)

“Respondents’ failure and refusal to publish the Report violates the requirement for the highest degree of excellence, professionalism, intelligence and skill considering that all the data required to investigate the violations and the identity of the violators are already in Respondent‘s custody. The unreasonably long time for the report to be completed is also in violation of the requirement for prompt and adequate service to the public,” the complaint said. 

The Department of Energy had warned the public of possible 3- to 5-hour rotating brownouts for 5 days in a row during the summers months of 2015 due to a possible energy shortfall from the shutdown of the Malampaya plant, the expected onset of a mild El Niño, and the delay in the commissioning. 

To curb the supposed energy crisis, President Benigno Aquino III asked Congress to grant him special powers to purchase or rent additional generating capacity. 

But the supply-demand outlook presented by the DOE in a House committee on energy hearing in October revealed that that power crisis was not as worse as earlier projected.

In a worst-case scenario, the shortfall will only amount to one-hour rotating brownouts for one day in a week. The revelation prompted Congress to remove the option to purchase or lease additional generating capacity from special powers to be granted to Aquino. – Rappler.com