ERC denies Enrile accusation

ERC Chairman Manuel R. Sanchez denied the accusation of former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is turning a blind eye on the overcharging of at least P640 million in power charges in 50 franchise areas in Luzon and Metro Manila.

Enrile claims that ERC allowed Meralco to collect 11 centavos per kilowatt-hour more than the rate of P3.30/kWh he pressumed to be approved by the said body.

The alleged overcharging was based on the assumption that MERALCO sources its power requirements only from the National Power Corporation (NPC) and that it cannot source its power requirements from other entities such as the Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Executive Order No. 215 authorized the said IPPs to generate power and sell the same to distributors like MERALCO to alleviate the then power crisis that beset the country in the late 80s up to the early 90s.

The rates charged by these IPPs to distributors, which are in turn passed on to the end-users, are embodied in various purchased power agreements which were approved by the then ERB in the light of the circumstances then prevailing.

“We can only surmise that the good senator has made some miscalculations. The P3.30/kWh is not by itself the approved generation rate. He failed to account for the 10 centavo deferred PPA charges allowed by ERC to be collected from end-users in its Orders dated December 19, 2002 and May 12, 2003, which brings the total to P3.40/kWh,” Sanchez said. “We invite Mr. Enrile to sit down with us and make a recomputation to prove to him that there was no overcharging,” he continued.

The ERC chief also clarified that the Commission only allowed Meralco to recover a maximum 9.5% for systems loss instead of 16% as alleged by the former senator.

October 14 , 2003