THE watchdog group Power for People Coalition (P4P) had expressed their support for the move made by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), to appeal the Supreme Court (SC) the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) which allowed San Miguel Corporation (SMC) to get power supply deals with Meralco that have set fixed rates.

It will be recalled that SMC won a ruling from the CA last year, after they reversed the ERC decision denying its petition to raise prices from its Ilijan gas and Sual coal power plants.

This is despite being covered by fixed-rate power supply agreements (PSAs). The Office of the Solicitor General confirmed that the ERC filed an appeal on February 29 earlier this year.

“We welcome the move of the ERC and its Chair, Monalisa Dimalanta, to uphold its duty of protecting consumers from the attempt by SMC to profit off the rising price of coal and gas by passing them on to consumers,” said P4P through convenor Gerry Arances.

“We hope the Supreme Court will see reason and rule that SMC must abide by its contract and cannot raise prices on electricity,” Arances said.

SMC attempted to collect an extra ₱5 billion from consumers in 2023 in a petition before the ERC to raise prices, which was denied due to the clause in the contract which prohibited changes in rates.