ERC aiming to finish probe on gencos’ involvement in Red Alerts this September

Power generation companies (gencos) may be welcoming the “Ber” months with some news from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) regarding its investigation into their involvement in the Luzon Red Alerts from May 31-June 2.

Based on a BusinessMirror report, ERC Commissioner and Executive Director Floresinda Digal said the commission is committed to finishing the evaluation of the gencos involved by this coming September.

Digal’s comment was in response to consumer group Power for People Coalition’s (P4P) question to ERC Chairperson Agnes Devanadera on the probe’s status.

Devanadera said in a recent hearing of the House Committee on Energy that it would conclude the probe this August.

Back in June, the ERC issued Notices of Non-Compliance to 17 gencos, ordering them to explain their unplanned outages, which breached the maximum allowable days annually.

The ERC is also trying to find out if there was a collusion among the gencos, which led to the Red Alerts and rotating brownouts.

P4P also called attention of to the Sual coal-fired power plant in Pangasinan; Unit 1 of the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation (SLTEC) coal plant in Calaca, Batangas; and Module 10 of the Sta. Rita gas plant in Batangas City. The facilities were allowed to halt operations for 70, 61, and 35 days, respectively, but have been offline longer than what the ERC has permitted.

Team Energy owns Sual, while Ayala-led AC Energy owns SLTEC, and Lopez-led First Gen handles Sta. Rita.