ERC issues 113 COCs to power firms in Q3

By Lenie Lectura – November 23, 2020
from Business Mirror

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has cleared 113 applications for Certificates of Compliance (COCs) in the third quarter of the year, bringing to 37,817 COCs the total number of issued COCs since 2003.

These certificates are licenses issued by the ERC to power generation companies (GenCos), Qualified End-Users (QEs) and Entities with Self-Generation Facilities (SGFs) to operate a power facility.

The 113 COCs and PAOs correspond to a total capacity of 4,213.83 megawatts (MW) of electricity, the agency said Monday.

Of which, 25 COCs were issued to Independent Power Producers and 88 to SGFs.

“This shows the agency’s resiliency and commitment to achieve its targets despite the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. More than ever, we need to ensure that there will be sufficient power supply to keep the hospitals running around the clock, and that the students and workers who are studying and working through online will get continuous electricity connection,” said ERC Chairperson and CEO Agnes VST Devanadera.

Meanwhile, only 21 COCs were issued in the second quarter, mainly due to quarantine measures imposed by the government. As a result, processing of COC applications were affected due to the limitations brought about by the said pandemic, as well as the lockdowns imposed in the ERC’s office.  “Our agency was able to quickly adapt to the ‘New Normal’ and implemented alternative work arrangements that enabled the conduct of virtual power plant inspections, instead of the usual ocular or physical inspections.

“We also promulgated the ‘Guidelines Governing Electronic Applications, Filing, and Virtual Hearings before the ERC’ to ensure the continuous performance of our mandate,” Devanadera added.

Also, the third-quarter monitoring report of the ERC showed that no GenCo has breached the market share limitations per grid and national grid.

However, there were some GenCos that failed to file or renew their COCs within the prescribed period.

“The ERC will continuously perform its mandate pertaining to the issuance and renewal of Generation Companies’ COCs in order to ensure that there is ample power supply as we rise above the challenges brought by the pandemic and the destruction wrought by the recent typhoons,” Devanadera said.

Image credits: Business Mirror file photo