THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is looking into lowering the threshold to 100 kilowatts (kW) for users to be eligible for the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) program.
Any changes may be implemented in the next three or four years, it said.
“That is our goal but how soon and how we will design the lowering of the threshold, that’s what we need to study,” ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Monalisa C. Dimalanta told reporters.
Under the current rules, qualified contestable customers, or end-users consuming at least 500 kW a month, may choose their own power suppliers.
Contestable customers are given the opportunity to participate, on a voluntary basis, in the Competitive Retail Electricity Market (CREM), to choose from an array of power suppliers.
Captive customers are those served by distribution utilities (DUs) within the latter’s service area.
The ERC said that about 60% of the 3,329 eligible customers are being served under CREM, while the remaining 40% of those eligible have yet to choose their own suppliers and continue to be served by their DUs.
“We want to announce it ahead of time so that DUs can also prepare because I think the biggest impact would be on the DUs, because their captive customer base will be shifting to contestable,” Ms. Dimalanta said.
“So they need to prepare accordingly. That’s why we want to announce it ahead of time,” she added. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera