Amid its ongoing probe into the four-day blackout that crippled Western Visayas, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) pushes for an amendment of the Republic Act No. 9136, also known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, that will redirect penalties it will collect into refunds to Filipino consumers inconvenienced by power outages.

ERC Chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta raised this proposal during the

second congressional inquiry into the region-wide power outage at the House of

Representatives.

Under the EPIRA, the ERC is authorized to impose penalties ranging from P50,000

to a maximum of P50 million for violations by power industry players. 

These penalties, according to Chairperson Dimalanta, are being remitted to the National Treasury.

“In fact, one of the recommendations that we made for the EPIRA amendment is to

allow ERC the authority to order the application of penalties for return, either in the

form of refund or discounts, to the consumers that suffer the inconvenience or the

violation that resulted in the interruption of service,” Chairperson Dimalanta said.

“Right now, we don’t have the authority. But if there is an amendment in the law,

then we can have that authority to make the application,” she added.

Following reports of the massive power shortfall, the ERC promptly instituted a

proactive approach by mandating hourly updates from the grid operator instead of

the previous four-hour intervals. Concurrently, the ERC immediately launched its

own investigation into the incident which led to the region’s economic losses in

billions of pesos.

In addition, the ERC is completing the study on the reconstitution of the composition of the Grid Management Committee (GMC) while assessing the most efficient legal framework for this reconstitution. 

The GMC is primarily in charge of monitoring the implementation of the Grid Code, as well as reviewing and recommending standards, procedures, and requirements for the connection, operation, maintenance, and development of the country’s power grid.

Earlier in the hearing of the Senate’s Energy Committee on Wednesday, 11 January

2023, Chairperson Dimalanta vowed to relentlessly pursue the exacting of full

measure of accountability from agencies responsible for the blackout.

In the same inquiry at the Senate, the Department of Energy (DOE) also conveyed

that it will also support an amendment to the EPIRA that will seek criminal liability for power company officials deemed responsible for failing to prevent such blackouts.