Energy stakeholders with rate petitions or license applications will no longer wait patiently for slow-moving elevators, as the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has announced that it is moving into a modern and eco-friendly office at the Exquadra Tower within the enclaves of the Ortigas Business District.
The ERC Executive Office has already been fully designed and completed in the new building. The rest of its workforce will move in to the new office in June this year.
The industry regulator noted that its change of office address is meant to provide an improved and safer environment for its employees.
ERC Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera explained that “the idea of us transferring to a new building has been long overdue and has been one of the projects that ERC is working on for quite some time now.”
She further stated “the main idea is to really acquire a building of our own but leasing a new building for now is more practicable and the immediate and essential motivation is mainly for safety reasons.”
The ERC chief has not specified the "security concerns" confronting its employees in their old office in Pasig, but it is widely perceived that they are easily targeted by consumer-protests in their current building.
The regulatory body said the Exquadra Tower has platinum leadership in energy and environmental design or it is a LEED-certified building, a fitting home to the ERC because it is also regulating the integration of technology innovations in the energy sector.
The ERC added that the Exquadra Tower has been built “to improve energy and water efficiency, carbon dioxide emission reduction-compliant and is aligned with the Commission’s aim to promote a green and eco-friendly environment for its employees and clientele.”
Devanadera highlighted that “as regulator of the electric power industry, I wanted to set an example that buildings like this are the ones that we should start occupying as it helps our environment to be greener in the long run.”
She specified that the ERC “was inspired to settle in Exquadra Tower, it being a LEED-certified building that we would be using as our homestead for the next few years until ERC can acquire its own building.”
According to the ERC, the Exquadra Tower is a 38-story edifice with five basement floors and has been equipped with top-of-the-line destination control elevators and has turnstiles to prevent traffic in the building.