A NEW charter for the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is needed as legislators seek to amend the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), according to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).
“We believe that having a separate charter for the ERC will allow it to be more dynamic, flexible, effective, and efficient in responding to the changing needs of not only the electric power industry but also other components or subsectors of the energy sector,” according to commentary dated Aug. 9 published on the PIDS website.
The commentary was prepared by Adoracion M. Navaro, PIDS senior research fellow, and Kris A. Francisco, research fellow.
They said a new charter should be in place should the Department of Energy or Congress “assign tasks to ERC with respect to utility or generation regulation under new arrangements.”
They said a stand-alone ERC charter is “more dynamic as it can easily accommodate future needs that are not part of the electric power industry.”
Instead, general provisions on ERC regulation of the electric power industry should be in the EPIRA, “as the replacement section for the comprehensive proposals that may have to be moved to a new legislation on the ERC chapter.”
“Moreover, deregulation, light-handed regulation, or expansion of regulatory coverage in response to the dynamic environment can be more easily addressed by amending the ERC charter, rather than by revisiting the whole EPIRA every time there is a need to amend particular sections on the ERC,” the authors said.
They added that empowering ERC as a regulator “for the energy sector and not just for the electric power industry” would make institutional capacity building “more dynamic” in anticipation of future scenarios.
“Thus, the stand-alone ERC charter must contain provisions on how to beef up its technical capacity,” the authors said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
