With just a month left in 2025, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is moving to wrap up several major pending regulatory cases.

In an interview, ERC Chairperson Francis Saturnino Juan listed unresolved matters concerning the grid, transmission, and energy storage systems (ESS).

“The major ones slated— and have timelines— are the NGCP fifth [regulatory reset]. We are targeting to finish this as early as possible, because the last regulatory year will already be energized next year,” he told reporters.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is still awaiting approval for its Fifth Regulatory Period (5RP), which covers 2023 to 2027.

In September, the ERC identified 13 capital expenditure (CAPEX) projects, valued at ₱93.6 billion, that require regulatory clearance. NGCP has filed a motion seeking interim relief to begin some of the projects ahead of the full 5RP approval.

While Juan previously disclosed that NGCP would soon receive priority decisions to help develop some major transmission projects, the overall 5RP case requires lengthy deliberation.

“That case is quite long and has many issues, so maybe [it will be done] by January or February,” Juan elaborated. “We are taking our time to deliberate carefully. For the reset, we look at the revenue requirement using the building blocks, so we go through each building block one by one in the NGCP filing.”

Aside from NGCP’s pending case, Juan noted that the commission is also reviewing amendments to the Philippine Grid Code, which sets operational rules for grid development projects.

“The industry is also waiting for the entry of grid-forming inverters and the grid code revisions. We’re aiming to release our draft amendments to the grid code, so we can update and adopt them by the first quarter of next year,” he shared.

Last month, the ERC announced it was actively reviewing the grid and market codes, including the Philippine Grid Code (PGC), Philippine Distribution Code (PDC), and Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rules.

The review aims to integrate grid-forming inverters and synthetic inertia into system planning, update dispatch and scheduling protocols for ESS in the spot market, and accommodate distribution-level interconnection and smart metering.

“We were going over the grid code revisions [and the] amendments one by one. Then we’ll come out with the draft, which will be subject to public consultation by December or January,” Juan said. “We targeted the revision and update for quite some time, but we couldn’t do it. Now, we’re trying to do it.”