ERC officials attend electricity regulation conference in China
Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairman Manuel R. Sanchez and Commissioner Oliver B. Butalid attended the international conference on “Power Sector Restructuring and Regulation in China” held on September 17-18, 2003 in Beijing, China. They served as resource speakers and interacted with other regulatory officials and experts from various countries.
Chairman Sanchez said that “it was a great opportunity for us to share our experiences in restructuring the power industry in the Philippines and to provide our Chinese counterparts some information which could help them in developing an effective electricity market.”
Chairman Sanchez gave a presentation on electricity regulation in the Philippines. He presented a summary of the ERC’s powers under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and the competition rules framework.
On the other hand, Commissioner Butalid presented a summary of the new performance based regulation for transmission and participated in the discussion on electricity law and regulations.
The activities in the conference included a public meeting with presentations by officials of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) of China and other international speakers like Professor Stephen Littlechild, former Director General of Office of Energy Regulation (OFFER) and one of the pioneers of incentive regulation; William Massey, Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S.A.; and Paul Baxter, Senior Commissioner, Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, Australia, to name a few.
The conference aimed to provide SERC with vital information on electricity regulations, design of regional electricity markets, electric power sector reform and the design of regulatory systems.
The SERC was formed by the Chinese government last year, after it broke up the State Power Corporation, the former monopoly entity. SERC is the first government-sponsored regulatory agency in the electric industry in mainland China. It is currently headed by Chairman Chai Songyue.
COURTESY CALL—Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairman Manuel R. Sanchez (left) shakes hands with the First Vice-Premier of China, Huang Ju at the Great Hall of the People during a recent courtesy call on the latter. Sanchez was in China to speak on electricity regulation in the Philippines at the international conference on "Power Sector Restructuring and Regulation in China" held on September 17-18, 2003.
ERC CHAIR IN CHINA—Chairman Manuel R. Sanchez (left) is shown with China’s First Vice-Premier Huang Ju, Prof. Stephen Littlechild, former Director General of Office of Energy Regulation (OFFER), UK; and Commissioner William Massey of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S.A.
September 18, 2003