The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is set to overhaul its net metering rules by reducing documentary requirements to just three or four essentials and mandating uniform procedures across all distribution utilities (DUs).

ERC Chairperson and CEO Francis Saturnino C. Juan said the proposed changes will be tackled in the Commission’s next meeting, following President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to ease red tape in energy services. He made the remarks in a sidelines interview after the second energy forum of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) held at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters in Makati on September 11, 2025.

“We have already identified improvements in our rules like mandating only the minimum, the barest minimum of requirements. So the distribution utility should only prescribe very limited, three or four requirements to make it easier,” Juan said, adding that requirements will be standardized to prevent uneven practices among utilities.

Juan also clarified that net metering agreements between DUs and customers can already be implemented even without the issuance of a Certificate of Compliance (COC) from ERC. “There’s no need really for us to issue the actual document because it is written in our rules already that they can do that, they can implement or they should implement,” he said.

He noted that some DUs have been outsourcing distribution impact studies to third parties, resulting in delays and additional charges. Juan stressed that such studies should be handled directly by utilities to remove unnecessary costs and processing layers. “We want to get rid of all these extra cost and extra layer of requirements and processing,” he said.

The ERC’s planned revisions build on reforms initiated last month, when the Department of Energy (DOE) convened regulators, utilities, and local government agencies to harmonize procedures and clear bottlenecks in the Net Metering Program. During that meeting, agencies agreed to set strict timelines for each application stage, standardize forms, and simplify documentation, while Meralco pledged to digitize its application process and accredit solar PV installers.

These combined measures are expected to address long-standing complaints that net metering applications require excessive paperwork—sometimes as many as 15 documents—and are delayed by uneven local permitting processes.

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