CA annuls ERC order rejecting San Miguel subsidiaries’ rate hike petition on grave abuse of discretion

By Manila Standard Business – July 12, 2023, 12:19 pm

The Court of Appeals’ 13th Division has annulled and set aside the order of the Energy Regulatory Commission rejecting the temporary rate hike petition filed by San Miguel Corp.’s energy subsidiaries last year.

SMC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday that the CA annulled the ERC order dated September 29, 2022 in ERC Case No. 2019-081 and ERC Case No. 2019-083 “for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”

SMC said it received, through Poblador Bautista Reyes Law Offices, the counsel of San Miguel Energy Corp. and South Premiere Power Corp., the CA’s joint decision dated June 27, 2023, granting the consolidated petitions for certiorari filed by the two companies.

SPPC and SMEC, administrators of the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan natural gas and 1,200-MW Sual coal-fired power plants, along with Manila Electric Co., sought a temporary rate hike under its 2019 power supply agreement due to “change in circumstance” amid the unprecedented hike in coal prices.

Meanwhile, the CA granted the SPPC and SMEC’s joint motion for price adjustment with provisional authority and/or interim relief on ERC Case No. 2019-081 and ERC Case No. 2019-083, without prejudice to any further requests for price adjustments for June 2022 onwards for SPPC from June 2022 to January 25, 2023 date of writ of preliminary injunction and for SMEC from June 2022 to the date of the finality of the joint decision.

However, the CA denied SMEC’s motion for partial reconsideration of the court’s January 13, 2023 resolution and its application for the issuance of a WPI for being moot and academic.

The CA also made permanent the preliminary injunction issued in favor of SPPC.