Nasecore wants Meralco to be more transparent

MANILA, Philippines -  The National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms (Nasecore), a consumer group, is asking the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), to press Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to be more transparent with its power supply contracts.

Meralco is the country’s biggest power distributor.

In a letter to ERC, Nasecore urged the ERC to mandate Meralco to be transparent with its negotiations with its independent power producers (IPPs) to see whether the distribution utility has been able to bring generation costs down.

“All distribution utilities which opt to recover stranded cost shall have a duty to mitigate its potential stranded contract costs by making reasonable best efforts to reduce the costs of its existing contracts with IPPs,” Nasecore president Petronilo Ilagan said.

In particular, Nasecore wants ERC to require Meralco to submit the following data: the ERC approved per kilowatt-hour of Meralco with each of its IPPs and the corresponding capacity factor; the annual submission of Meralco of its individual IPPs of their actual monthly deliveries and the rate per kwh from 2003 to 2013; Meralco’s quarterly reports submitted to the ERC showing the amount of stranded costs recovered and the balance remaining to be covered; the copy of annual reports of Meralco’s IPPs from the year they started operations and the copy of monthly invoices and official receipts of Meralco’s payment to its individual IPPs from year 2003 to present.

“In the spirit of public interest, we look forward to your most favorable and immediate action to our request,” Ilagan said in the letter.

Iligan reminded the ERC that it is mandated under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) that power distributors such as Meralco must ensure that power costs are least costly to consumers.