Dimalanta's final push: ERC chief eyes household power choice roadmap
Outgoing Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta
Outgoing Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta is pushing to accelerate plans that would allow households to choose their own power suppliers.
Dimalanta told reporters she intends to advance plans for lowering the demand threshold for the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) program before she steps down from office on July 31.
The goal, according to Dimalanta, is to have a roadmap for public consultation as early as next week.
"It's part of our agenda this third quarter, but we'll see if we can accelerate it, if we can have the roadmap for public consultation by next week, because most likely my last meeting with the [ERC] will be by next week," she said.
The ERC’s RCOA program is currently only available to large electricity end-users, such as businesses and industrial facilities, with a monthly peak demand of 500 kilowatts (KW).
Dimalanta noted that while the broader implementation of RCOA for households is targeted over the next two years, it comes with significant conditions, primarily the rollout of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), or smart metering programs.
"Metering is quite a challenge. We also need to implement the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), or smart metering program, alongside it," she added.
Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has already announced plans to deploy 3.27 million smart meters between 2025 and 2029 and is actively exploring ways to reduce the costs of smart meters for its customers.
Beyond metering, Dimalanta raised the need for the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) to prepare for these adjustments.
IEMOP serves as the central registration body, and Dimalanta believes its infrastructure isn't yet fully ready.
”IEMOP is the central registration body and infrastructure wise, I don’t think IEMOP yet is ready. So we need to prepare all these things that we need the entire ecosystem to be ready for the household exercise power of choice. Those are all going into the roadmap,” she clarified.