ERC signs MOA with PEMC on delineation of functions over WESM
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| ERC Chairman and CEO Rodolfo B. Albano, Jr. (center) presents the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) to PEMC President Lasse A. Holopainen (second from left) after its signing. Also in the picture are ERC Commissioners Rauf A. Tan and Jose C. Reyes (right) and Mr. Joel J. Marciano (left), Dispute Resolution Administrator. |
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the Philippines Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on January 23, 2008 adopting a protocol in the exercise of their respective authorities with regard to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). The protocol recognizes the ERC’s jurisdiction to enforce the rules and regulations of the electricity spot market and to investigate and penalize any market participant for anti-competitive behavior and market power abuse, on the one hand, and PEMC’s mandate to prevent and penalize breach of the WESM Rules and WESM Market Manuals, on the other.
“Given that the exercise of their respective authorities may at times overlap or duplicate, the ERC and PEMC devised a procedure on how each will proceed in the investigation of rules breaches and anti-competitive behavior,” ERC Chairman and CEO Rodolfo B. Albano Jr. said. The protocol declares that while PEMC may be allowed by the ERC to investigate possible anti-competitive behavior or market power abuse, its findings are only recommendatory to the ERC. The ERC is likewise not bound by any finding or decision of the PEMC in rules breaches, as it may conduct an entirely separate and independent investigation from that conducted by PEMC. The protocol also recognizes the right of any market participant to seek redress from the ERC even for matters already investigated by the PEMC and those that already underwent PEMC’s Dispute Resolution Process.
“The signing of the MOA is most welcome to the ERC. Even before the start of WESM, the ERC has always advocated for greater coordination and cooperation with PEMC to ensure the success of WESM and deter anti-competitive behavior. With the agreed protocol, there will be a better understanding of the scope and extent of the ERC and PEMC’s respective authorities and an established procedure that will allow each to act independently of the other, but with a united purpose of a common interest - that of the consuming public, ” Chairman Albano explained.
January 25, 2008