House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The Manila Electric Company's (Meralco) purchase of electricity goes through a "very strict" process, a representative of the firm assured the House Committee on Legislative Franchises on Wednesday, Nov. 22. 

"Yung sa pagbili naman po ng distribution utilities (DU) tulad ng Meralco ng kuryente from generators, yun naman po ay very strictly regulated," Lawrence Fernandez, Meralco head of utility economics, said after the company was confronted with allegations of conflict of interest by Caloocan 3rd district Rep. Dean Asistio. 

Meralco, whose franchise area covers the entire National Capital Region (NCR) and nearby provinces, is widely known for its role as a power distributor. 

Asistio, citing Meralco's endeavors in power generation, asked during hearing: "Wala po bang conflict of interest dito? Kumbaga eh binebentahan lang din ng Meralco yung sarili niya ng kuryente?" 

(Isn't there are conflict of interest here? It's like Meralco is selling itself its own electricity supply.) 

"Ano talaga ang dahilan kung bakit ang Meralco ay kailangang maging may-ari ng isang genco (generation company), aside sa obvious reason na gusto niyong kumita ng malaki?" asked Asistio. 

(What's the track reason why Meralco needs to own a genco, aside from the obvious reason that it wants to rake in huge profits?) 

Fernandez, a resource person during the hearing, said the company has followed the rules set by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). 

"Sa ngayon sumusunod kami sa CSP (competitive selection process) policy po ng Department of Energy (DOE) na sinasabing lahat po ng power supply agreements (PSA) na papasukin ng isang [DU] ay dapat dumaan po ng competitive selection process," Fernandez said. 

(As of now, we follow the DOE's CSP policy, which states that all PSAs entered into by a DU must undergo a competitive selection process.) 

Fernandez said that even after the ERC took over the implementation, Meralco was still compliant. 

"Dati po, mayroong sariling implementing guidelines ang DOE para sa pag-procure po ng [PSA], sumunod po kami doon. Ngayon po na binago ng DOE ang kanyang policy, ang implementing guidelines ay galing ngayon sa [ERC]. So kami po ay susunod sa implementing guidelines ng ERC." 

(Back then, the DOE had its own guidelines for the procurement of PSAs, and we followed it. Even after the DOE changed its policy and the ERC took over the implementing guidelines, we were still compliant.) 

He further told the Caloocan congressman that Meralco's affiliates from the power supply side still need to undergo bidding. 

"Hindi po kailangan manggaling sa affiliated company ang supply; kailangan nilang sumali sa bidding. Noong nagkaroon po kami ng bidding noong 2020, sumali po yung affiliate, natalo po siya,"  recalled Fernandez. 

(The power supply need not come from an affiliated company; they need to undergo bidding. We held a bidding in 2020, and the affiliate that joined the bidding lost.) 

The House panel hearing Wednesday stemmed from calls of some solons to break up Meralco's franchise into three due to its "monopolistic" practices.