Although it was disheartened by the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) denial of its petition for rate adjustment, SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation (SMCGP), the energy investment arm of the San Miguel group, will continue to supply power to Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to spare consumers from any unwarranted service interruptions.
“We will do everything we can to make sure Meralco's energy supply is not disrupted. Despite the present challenges, we will never withhold our available power capacity to the detriment of the country and the consumers,” the SMC power firm said.
Nevertheless, the company hinted that it will “continue to explore other legal remedies to allow us to sustainably provide for the increasing power needs of our country while meeting our obligations to our various stakeholders.”
It has to be culled from the ERC ruling that even SMCGP’s bid for termination of the PSAs covering the contracted capacities of the Ilijan gas-fired and Sual coal-fed power facilities had not been allowed under the legal fiat of the “change in circumstances” provision of the power supply deals.
As things stand, the San Miguel power company had lamented the rejection-verdict handed down by the regulatory body on its propounded rate hike application which could have been just passed on over six months at the scale of P0.30 per kilowatt hour.
“We regret the ERC denial of our joint petition with Meralco for temporary relief on our 2019 power supply agreements (PSAs), not so much for our own interest but more for the consumers,” SMCGP noted.
The power firm explained that “the temporary relief would have enabled us to preserve few of the last remaining fixed-rate PSAs of Meralco that are responsible for keeping power rates in Metro Manila low compared to other parts of the country, amid surging global fuel prices.”
SMCGP similarly cited that the computation of Meralco on the joint rate adjustment application was even validated by the ERC’s Regulatory Operations Office.
Had that been given merit in the decision of the regulatory body, the firm stated that “the interest of the consumers would have been best served with the approval of the petition.”
The company expounded “the ERC-ROS itself confirmed that the commission does not have any other data or information that could contradict or disprove the computations and simulations submitted by Meralco.”
SMCGP opined that without the fixed rate PSA, consumers will have to bear higher cost of power supply in their electric bills especially if the offtaker power utility will be highly exposed to prices in the spot market in this regime of surging fuel prices in the world market.
“The ERC, armed with such data, knows too well that denying the petition will not only cripple us, but more importantly, burden consumers who will have to face higher electricity bills,” the SMC power firm stressed.
Onward, SMCGP said it remains focused on “maximizing its existing power assets to help sustain our economy's recovery, while investing in technologies that will facilitate our transition to cleaner energy.”