A resolution that was crafted during the leadership of suspended Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Monalisa C. Dimalanta is threatening to cripple Officer-in-Charge Jesse Hermogenes T. Andres from performing his function, because he is being prohibited by that supposed rule to call for a meeting at the Commission.

According to a highly placed source, Andres was reportedly apprised by Commission Secretary Heiddi Barrozo during his first day in office last Wednesday (September 25) that there’s a resolution stipulating that only the Chairperson, and not an OIC, can officially call for a Commission meeting, hence, that is seen precipitating further delay and administrative logjam on the deliverables of the regulatory body.

The Commission Secretary’s stand had been backed up by one of the Commissioners when they communicated the matter to Andres, the source noted.

However, it was tipped off by one official from the ERC that the proposed ‘internal rules’ had not been adopted by the Commission; and the copies had not also been furnished to all Commissioners, hence, that is a matter that Andres needed to ferret out.

As of Thursday afternoon, sources noted that a call for a Commission meeting was already being sorted as the officials concerned cannot produce a duly promulgated and signed copy of the said resolution.

A copy of the draft resolution obtained by Manila Bulletin showed that it was not signed, hence, it was stipulated that such targeted rule cannot be considered valid.

On initial information relating to the presence of a restrictive resolution, it was emphasized that the OIC was left in limbo because even if he wishes, Andres is being shackled legally from filling in leadership gap at the regulatory body; and that in turn, will also adversely impact the entire power sector of the country.

And since the reported resolution had not been made public, the broader constituencies of frustrated stakeholders in the power industry have been seeking for transparency because of the pending matters at the regulatory agency that could negatively affect the viability of businesses as well as services to consumers.

Any stifling rule of that nature in the Commission, it was stressed, is sending a dangerous and wrong signal to the industry and the consumers – because that is tantamount to having a regulating agency that can be easily bogged down by bureaucratic inertia – inferring then that instead of protecting the Commission from potential abuse of power, it is making the ERC less accountable to the public that it is legally mandated to serve.

Beyond that, the curtailment of authority that could have been vested upon the OIC will primarily impede deliberations and issuance of decisions on pending applications and petitions at the ERC – including those on power supply agreements (PSAs), rate reset as well as adjustments for over- and under-recoveries of the regulated entities.

“The presence of that resolution will be detrimental to all industry players and also the consumers who could be compromised not just for power service interruptions but even with high electricity rates if the PSAs won’t be approved as they are needed, so that has to be known publicly,” the source stressed.

The country’s electric cooperatives (ECs), in particular, are already crying for help on immediate resolution of their PSAs – particularly worrying that any extended setback on the actions of the ERC will not just plague consumers with rotational brownouts, but even inflated power tariffs.

Beyond the PSAs and petitions for capital expenditure (capex) projects, the ERC will also need to rule on the rate reset of many power utilities all over the country – of which delay in the tariff adjustment of power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) – had actually triggered the ERC Chair’s suspension.

On the targeted influx of clean energy investments, the resolution also renders Andres helpless when it comes to convening a Commission meeting that will decide on reserve prices for the series of green energy auction (GEA) programs being scheduled for various renewable energy (RE) technologies.

Within this year, the Department of Energy (DOE) has slated competitive bidding for hydro and geothermal capacities; while two more GEAs are targeted next year for the other RE installations.

President Marcos himself had led investment-invitations for these trillion pesos worth of pipelined green energy projects, but the country may end up losing them due to stalled deliberations and decision processes at the ERC.