ERC okays rules on distribution services

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has promulgated the rules, terms and conditions for regulated electric distribution services and open access, or the Distribution Services and Open Access Rules (DSOAR).

Under the guidelines, all distribution utilities (DUs), including those operating in the economic zones, should be ready to provide a variety of services to their markets in a reliable, efficient and economical manner.

DSOAR also includes blueprints for related undertakings or agreements between the DUs and their customers.

The DSOAR, considered as the "Bible" for the DUs, is designed to cover the various service combinations in the new DU environment created by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

The DSOAR requires that services to the captive market (comprising of both the residential and non-residential end-users) are similar to services before the EPIRA which are now restructured under the unbundled rates, removal of cross subsidies, and separate connection policy regulation under the distribution wheeling rate guidelines, DWRG, all geared towards maintaining a regular supply of electricity throughout the DUs’ franchise areas.

It also requires all DUs to make available, upon reasonable request, all regulated services, at rates, terms and conditions that are just and equitable to all customers. Service obligations of the DUs as provided in the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers and those rules and regulations set by the then Energy Regulatory Board (ERB), as far as applicable, complement the DSOAR.

"The change in the landscape of the electric power industry into a competitive market and the paradigm shift in the services the industry has to offer, necessitates this reform," ERC chairman Rodolfo B. Albano Jr. said.