Twenty-five years after the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) restructured the country’s electricity sector, government and industry players are expected to raise a toast to “market liberalization” as a success story. Whether consumers feel just as energized, however, is another...
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has imposed new limits on the maximum market share power generation companies can control in the country’s regional and national grids, part of its regulatory push to curb monopolies and foster competition in the sector. The ERC updated the installed...
Recent rotational brownouts in Luzon have highlighted the urgent need to modernize the country’s aging power grid, with state-run policy think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) warning that transmission bottlenecks and delayed infrastructure projects are increasingly...
The United States (US) government’s Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) has earmarked a $60-million grant for the Philippines focused on the energy sector. Documents discussed during the US aid agency’s economic advisory council meeting last month, which were made public last week, showed that the...
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has asked regulators for permission to cap an expected spike in electricity rates this month to shield households from surging generation costs and a weakening currency. In a proposal submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the country’s largest power...
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has ordered a nationwide temporary suspension of power disconnections to preserve electricity access during a declared State of National Energy Emergency and shielding consumers from immediate service cuts. In a newly issued advisory, the country’s energy...
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is seeking regulatory approval to return approximately ₱9 billion to its customers, adding to an existing multi-billion peso refund program aimed at easing the burden of high electricity costs. In an interview, Ronald Valles, Meralco head of regulatory management,...
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) lifted the suspension of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) across the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids, restoring normal trading operations effective Friday, May 1. In a statement, the ERC explained that this WESM resumption marks a return to...
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) customers will receive a reprieve on their electricity bills starting next month after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ordered the utility to accelerate the multibillion-peso refund to insulate households from global energy volatility. In a statement on...
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) prohibited power distributors from passing on penalties and interest charges stemming from late local tax payments to consumers, tightening oversight of how utilities recover levies. In a move intended to insulate monthly electricity bills from “unjust...
When Atty. Francis Saturnino “Nino” Juan took the helm of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in August 2025, he inherited an agency choked by years of delays. Its credibility was so bruised that power sector stakeholders approached progress not with hope, but with hardened, deliberately...
Makati City Mayor Nancy Binay on Tuesday, March 24, announced that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has recognized the city as the first local government unit (LGU) in the Philippines to champion 100 percent renewable energy utilization under the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) and...
