After this week’s first Commission meeting under Officer-in-Charge Chairperson and CEO Jesse Hermogenes Andres, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has agreed to expedite approvals of the certificates of compliance (COCs) or the licenses needed by new power plants to start generating electricity or for the existing facilities to continually operate, that way the consumers can be spared from unwanted electricity service interruptions or rotational blackouts.

According to a highly placed source, a day after the Commission meeting, roughly 99 COCs had already been processed and forwarded for final review and approval by the newly designated ERC chief.

The source added that “the backlog of roughly 450 COCs that are pending for approval can be sorted within the month…that’s the target and we’re already progressing.”

Apart from the power plant licenses, the ERC similarly tackled consumer-complaints in their first meeting; and there were also suggestions in the Commission that they will deliberate next on the approval of a power supply agreement (PSA) of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) that has a low-priced solar generation cost as that will be beneficial to consumers when the capacity is delivered.

The source further noted that the working style of Andres that he was able to impress upon the Commission is that, “he wants fast action on matters that badly need immediate resolution from the Commission so that the flow of investments will not be stifled and the consumers will not also suffer from unwanted service interruptions.”

It was similarly tipped off that Andres has been pushing for weekly Commission meetings, “because he realizes the urgency of regulatory action on massive pending applications” – including those on power supply agreements (PSAs), capital expenditure (capex) projects as well as the rate reset processes of regulated entities, primarily the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives (ECs) as well as system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

When asked if Andres has signing authority on the applications set for approval by the ERC, the source conveyed that “it’s a matter that’s being weighed legally, but what’s important is that he has been shepherding the Commission so we can decide on immediate and important matters that we will need to rule on.”

If the power plant COCs or licenses will be approved expeditiously, industry players indicated that generated electric capacities can all be delivered to the grid and the load network of servicing DUs and ECs, thus, that will ease up supply constraints in the country’s power system.

And if there will be more supply injected into the system, the resulting rates for consumers will turn out more cost-competitive.

Through the years, the country’s power system has been under strain – and a major contributing factor to that had been delayed ERC approvals of either COCs, PSAs, tariff reset or adjustments or even the capex projects of power utilities.

In the last summer month, many DUs and ECs had to suffer high exposure in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) despite spiky settlement prices because of delayed approval on their PSAs; and that in turn, had resulted in expensive electricity rates that had been passed on in the electric bills of consumers.

For too long, many power projects – including renewable energy (RE) investments, had also been stuck in regulatory limbo, hence, industry players are still endlessly wishing for a game change that could eliminate or reduce delays and can promote fair and balanced competition in the market.