The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has committed to streamlining the resolution of around 5,000 pending cases involving distribution utilities (DUs), electric cooperatives (ECs), generation companies (GenCos), and others by assigning oversight responsibilities to its commissioners.

In a statement on Thursday, Aug. 14, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said it held its first open commission meeting under new Chairperson Francis Saturnino Juan, who announced that each commissioner will oversee specific services to ensure all pending cases receive proper regulatory action.

During the meeting, Juan elaborated that these pending cases include the rate reset of private DUs, the implementation and reset processing for the Rules for Setting EC Wheeling Rates (RSEC-WR), capital expenditure projects, power supply agreements (PSAs), and emergency PSAs (EPSAs), point-to-point (P2P) facility applications, dispute resolutions, rule-making, as well as show-cause orders (SCOs).

These are set to be carried out by commissioners Floresinda Baldo G. Digal, Marko Romeo L. Fuentes, Amante A. Liberato, and Paris G. Real.

Emphasizing that no case is too small or too big, Juan said, “The ERC means business. So, we, at the Commission, have assigned specific oversight responsibilities so that every case gets the attention it deserves.”

Digal added that a “true-blue reconciled case inventory” would help commissioners move forward with the thousands of applications filed to the ERC.

“To get rid of most of the backlogs, we need to start with a very good inventory,” she said.

“Justice delayed is justice denied, and we would be doing a disservice to our stakeholders, to our consumers, and all parties concerned if we are unable to speedily resolve the pending cases,” Real added.

The ERC also announced that it would stop releasing Notices of Commission Action (NCAs) as a way to avoid preempting orders that would cause confusion to stakeholders.