ERC: Proposal to assign more commissioners not necessary
By Alena Mae S. Flores – January 12, 2025, 7:30 pm
from manilastandard.net
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) expressed misgivings over proposals to increase the number of commissioners to nine from five, saying this would make the agency “too bureaucratic.”
The proposal stemmed the deliberations at the House of Representatives on the amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
“We recognize the good intentions behind the proposal to increase the number of membership in the Commission from the current five to nine,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said.
“We think, however, that this may not be necessary once we are permitted to reorganize, create new offices and positions, increase personnel and enabled to institutionalize trainings and capacity building. These changes will facilitate timely evaluation of cases without making the agency too top-heavy and too bureaucratic,” Dimalanta said.
Dimalanta said that under the proposal to increase the commission members from five to nine members, there would be regional commissions with three commissioners per grid.
“Three commissioners for Luzon, three for Visayas and three for Mindanao. For certain items, we sit en banc, the nine members,” she said.
Dimalanta said, however, the ERC welcomes the final draft that came out in Congress
“It was a really a collaboration between the legislators and the various stakeholders, and it is now with the Committee on Appropriation with Congress,” she said.
She said the ERC was able to include in the draft the items on the limited fiscal autonomy of the ERC.
“So we can retain some of our collections. It will have specific purpose, for example, a certain percentage should go to training, certain percentage go to salary,” she said.
Meanwhile, the ERC invited the public to provide feedback on the draft resolution amending ERC Resolution No. 6, Series of 2019 or the resolution adopting the amendments to the rules enabling the net-metering program for renewable energy.
The ERC, in its draft resolution, introduces significant amendments to the net-metering rules to enhance transparency, accountability and ease of implementation.
One key amendment that aligns with the banking of net-metering credits addresses issues arising from the transfer of such credits in cases of property ownership changes.
The ERC said that in such instances, the credits accrued to the original property owner should be transferred to the new owner, provided they comply with existing rules and execute necessary documents, which may include but not limited to a new net-metering agreement (NMA) with concerned distribution utilities (DUs).
