On SC TRO
Bantay Kuryente fully supports the grant by the Supreme Court of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) restraining respondents Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) from implementing new policies regarding retail competition and open access. It is relieved that the Supreme Court has aptly appreciated that the TRO in favor of petitioners’ Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Ateneo De Manila University, San Beda College-Alabang and Riverbanks Development Corp. benefits not only them and other commercial and industrial establishments, but ultimately and more importantly, ordinary consumers who otherwise would have had to bear the brunt of higher electricity prices resulting from mandatory contestability.
It has been the unswerving position of Bantay Kuryente that the implementation of mandatory contestability effectively forces consumers to abandon existing arrangements and enter into unfavorable contracts just to meet the unrealistic deadline of February 26, 2017 set by the ERC. This amounts to an encroachment of the freedom of choice of electricity consumers, which the EPIRA Law itself upholds.