By MYRNA M. VELASCO Razon group’s MORE Electric and Power Corporation has acquired the distribution system in Iloilo via a court order, signaling the international port operator’s diversification into the power business. The Iloilo Regional Trial Court decision also subsequently prompted the revocation of the certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) of the Panay Electric Company (PECO) by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). In a correspondence to the two firms, ERC Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera has informed the parties that the Commission “revoked the provisional CPCN issued to PECO after determining that MORE has established or acquired its own distribution system and verified MORE’s complete transition to full operations.” PECO has been the servicing power distribution utility in Iloilo, but its franchise has not been renewed by Congress prior to its expiration in January 2019. Instead, the new 25-year franchise was granted to the Razon group. In the same letter to MORE and PECO, the ERC chief stated that she issued a provisional authority “authorizing MORE to operate the distribution network,” and for it “to implement the last approved distribution charges of PECO.” The Razon firm was similarly directed “to source and procure its power requirements,” further noting that “while MORE is unable to secure the certificate of exemption from the Department of Energy necessary to enter into emergency power supply agreements, it shall source its power requirements from the current power generation suppliers of PECO.” The ERC said its technical personnel had been deployed on March 3-4, 2020 to undertake ocular inspection “to verify the actual status of the distribution network and determine who among MORE and PECO is actually operating the said system.” And just a day after that ocular inspection, or on March 5 to be exact, the ERC has already rendered ruling on PECO’s CPCN revocation. The ERC said its inspection team “submitted an inspection report confirming that MORE has gained full possession and control over the five substations, and that MORE “has prepared for all other aspects related to electricity distribution, and has power supply contracts in place with four power suppliers that will ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity, sufficient to serve the consumers in the franchise area.” In a statement to the media, PECO stipulated that “the order of the ERC on the revocation of the PECO-CPCN is not yet final,” as its legal counsel Estrella Elamparo noted “we have not officially received the ERC order.” She added that the order was also “premised on misrepresentations made by MORE,” while emphasizing that “we are hopeful that once we are able to apprise the ERC of the true situation that’s happening on ground, they will not only reverse this order but should also deny the outright application of MORE for CPCN.” The Cacho-owned utility firm also noted “MORE forcibly took over some substations of PECO on the strength of a writ of possession” issued by a regional trial court of Iloilo, and “afterwards, MORE announced that they were already in Iloilo City and that they had taken full control of the facilities.” PECO stressed it contested such order, emphasizing that “it is illegal as there is a pending petition in the Supreme Court in relation to the constitutionality of the expropriation case.” The acquisition of the power distribution system in Iloilo is the initial foray by the Razon Group in the power business in the Philippines after selling his stake in National Grid Corporation of the Philippines to the Sy Group. Razon though operates Prime Power Middle East, a 150-megawatte gas-fired power plant in the economic zone of Umm Qasr Ports Authority of Iraq.