The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is inflicting a penalty against generation companies, costing around Php 60 million, for the presumed violation of the Reliability Index.

Manila Standard reported that the commission issued 65 Notices of Non-Compliance with Orders to Explain (NNCOE) to different power firms whose units had more planned outages than permitted.

Sanctions and fines would also be imposed on the companies if they fail to comply after receiving NNCOEs, following the guidelines.

The ERC stressed that it heeded the call of the country’s officials, as well as different sectors who pushed for accountability in countering power interruptions, such as the recent power outage in West Visayas.

This was also in line with ERC Resolution No. 10 series of 2020. which determined the number of planned and unplanned outages only allowed per generating plant each year.

Generating companies are mandated to submit an event report to the ERC, covering both planned and unplanned outages of generating facilities/units, within 48 hours of the incident. 

Additionally, a weekly summary report must also be submitted to the ERC every Tuesday, outlining the outage events in these facilities.