Public urged to comment on Magna Carta for power consumers

CEBU, Philippines - The Energy Regulatory Commission is seeking final comments on the second draft of the proposed revisions to the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers.

The ERC, in a statememt said that they developed amendments to the previously issued Magna Carta in order to synchronize it with the amended Distribution Services and Open Access Rules (DSOAR) which were promulgated last February 22, 2010.

ERC said that the amended Magna Carta aims to clarify and simplify provisions relating to filing of protests, high billings, transfer and termination of electric service, bill deposits, billing errors and procedure protecting succeeding tenants following issues with permanent departure of the immediately preceding tenant-registered customer from the premises.

The Magna Carta spells out the basic rights and obligations of residential electricity consumers, ERC said.

It can be recalled that the first draft of the proposed amendments to the Magna Carta was subjected to expository presentations in January 2010, one in Cebu City for the Visayas and Mindanao-based electric distribution utilities (DUs) and another in Manila for the Luzon-based DUs.

The ERC further stated that these EPS were followed by a formal public consultation hearing last February.

It added that this second draft has incorporated already the comments, suggestions, observations and inputs gathered during the expository presentations and public consultation held in the early part of the first quarter of this year.(FREEMAN NEWS)