ERC junks Aboitiz Power unit's plea on documents

MANILA, Philippines - The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has junked an Aboitiz Power Corp. subsidiary’s petition to keep several documents confidential.

In a public notice, the power sector regulator rejected the plea of Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) not to disclose documents from the energy sales agreements (ESA) with three electric cooperatives (ECs).

The ERC said it believes that TMI will not be unduly prejudiced by the public disclosure of the documents and information sought to be treated as confidential.

TMI earlier entered into power supply deals with Cotabato Electric Cooperative Inc., Misamis Occidental II Electric Cooperative Inc. and Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative Inc.

“The following documents or information are, at the same time of the request, already generally available to the public since the same were discussed in the public hearings conducted by the ERC in the various applications of the ECs for the approval of their respective ESAs with TMI,” ERC said.

Specifically, the ERC said publicly-available information in the supply deals include the rationale for the foreign exchange rate, computation of costs, fuel costs and termination fees.

Under the ERC’s rules, the petitions for non-disclosure may be denied if the information is publicly available by means other than through a breach of any confidentiality obligation.

It can also be denied if the information is already in the possession of the ERC on a non-confidential basis.

“The said documents or information are necessary in the evaluation and determination of the reasonableness of the rates to be charged to the consumers,” ERC said.

While TMI may have the right to protect its business concerns, it cannot outweigh the duty of the government to uphold public interest, ERC said.

TMI owns two 100-megawatt (MW) power barges in Mindanao.

To date, there are close to 20 emergency supply contracts between the Mindanao utilities and TMI provisionally approved by the ERC. These contracts cover 152 MWs of the combined capacity of the power barges.

The Department of Energy earlier required distribution utilities to secure their needs from all available power sources that include expensive power barges given the shortfall in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the ERC extended the provisional approval for two ESAs of San Miguel Energy Corp. (SMEC).

“Considering that the Commission is still in the process of evaluating the instant application, the provisional authority is granted,” ERC said.

SMEC earlier signed power supply deals with Angeles Electric Corp. and Ilocos Sur Electric Cooperative Inc.

SMEC is the independent power producer administrator of the 1,294-megawatt (MW) Sual coal-fired thermal power plant in Pangasinan. Plant owner TeaM Energy Philippines Corp. will have to turn over the facility SMEC by 2025 under an earlier agreement.

Existing customers of SMEC include Camarines Sur 1 Electric Cooperative, Quanta Paper, Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative, Central Azucarrera de Tarlac and Isabela 1 Electric Cooperative.