MANILA, Philippines — It is the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), not the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), that has the power to pull out the petition for a higher universal charge (UC) at the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said PSALM is just waiting for instructions from the JCPC, which is mandated under the EPIRA, to oversee the implementation of power reform law.

"The decision to pull out the UC, is not and cannot be PSALM’s. Only JCPC has the right to order that pull out, otherwise PSALM will violate the law. So we have to submit to JCPC,” Almendras said.

He added “the suggestion came from the House Committee on Energy, so we suggested to Rep. Abad to bring it to the JCPC so that they can make a decision. PSALM will definitely be open to it."

Almendras explained that, "under the EPIRA, the JCPC has the right to tweak the EPIRA according to implementation targets." He also noted that there is also an ongoing audit of the UC by lawmakers.

While pulling out the petition for higher UC will spare consumers from a rate hike, Almendras said it will also result in a financial drag on government coffers due to the loss of “a few billion pesos.”

Almendras said, “the recommendation of the DoE will depend on the decision of the JCPC. When they say we need to defer it, we need to find money since there are loans to be paid."

He said if ever there would be a need to collect additional UC from consumers, the government might be able to find a way to cushion its impact on electricity rates.

"The UC should push through, but there can be ways to mitigate it. I cannot discuss what we're going to do to mitigate right now," he said pointing out that “there are many options or alterations that can be done."

Almendras also noted that there is a regulator, the ERC, which determines the rates. "Have the ERC decide on what is a fair UC. And then we discuss alternatives how to make that thing work or how mitigate the impact," he said.

PSALM filed on June 28 with the ERC its UC application for stranded debt (SD) and stranded contract costs (SCC) at 3.13 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and 3.666 centavos per kWh, respectively.

To cushion the impact, PSALM proposed to the ERC that the UC-SCC be recovered over 15 years compared to the four-year recovery period mandated in the ERC-amended guidelines. The longer recovery period will bring down the UC-SCC to 0.06 centavos per kWh.