ERC Head Wants Asean Exchange Programs

The Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) new head, Atty. Monalisa C. Dimalanta is pushing for “exchange programs” among other contemporaries in the Southeast Asian region, for the Philippines to boost its regulation levels in the power sector.

Atty. Dimalanta conveyed her idea of transforming the ERC into a “center of excellence not only in the Philippines but in the ASEAN region.”

With this in mind, she talked ERC co-officials and employees  that “this requires an opening up of the agency to new, better and other ways of crafting and enforcing regulations.”

She also stressed that “we can do exchange programs with other regulators in the region so that they can learn from us, and we can learn from them.”

It was indicated by her that the ERC “will carry a badge of professionalism and unmatched understanding of the energy industry.”

Aside from consumers demanding cheaper power rates, the ERC is facing problems such as pending petitions for cost recoveries on power supply agreements (PSAs), fixing power supply issues in off-grid areas, and service domains of electric cooperatives (ECs).

Other areas of discussion include the massive scale integration of renewable energy capacities. ERC has to make sure that this would work smoothly, thus the need to secure harmonized buildup of transmission and power generation facilities.

Despite the issues faced by the ERC, Atty. Dimalanta told staff at the ERC to “embark on a transformational journey towards being the country’s most trusted government agency,” with her stressing that “respect should always be the baseline in all its dealings.”

Source: Manila Bulletin