Solon wants legal opinion on Epira

by Alena Mae S. Flores – June 11, 2017 at 07:01 pm

from Manila Standard Today

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has sought the legal opinion of the Joint Congressional Power Commission on retail competition and open access, which suffered a setback due to a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.

“One of the things I am pushing for in JCPC, being the oversight of Epira [Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001], is to come out with a legal opinion on RCOA. We are now in a very bad position, from a consumer standpoint.  We are now in a negative position because we promised to privatize the entire power sector where some huge companies won, thinking that we will give power to choose to the consumer,” Gatchalian told reporters.

Gatchalian, who heads the Senate committee on energy, said the Epira law was supposed to give consumers the power to choose their power supplier, but this did not happen because of the high tribunal’s decision.

“We need to pursue RCOA in order to fulfill the real mandate of further lowering down electricity costs and giving the power to choose, democratization to our consumers,” he said.

He said JCPC’s legal opinion could be used to establish the legality of RCOA.