PIPPA seems be quite confident that the eligible IPPs will be able to craft together offers to the large industrials that will be more appealing than any other power supply option they now have.

Meralco is currently responsible for procuring power to supply these same industrials. So why haven’t the IPPs and Meralco not already negotiated the very same ‘appealing’ offers that PIPPA postulates doing directly with the industrials under Interim Open Access?

It’s the same load. The same so-called ‘excess’ power. And such transactions are already permitted under the existing regulatory framework.

Delving into this single question elicits a whole host of other issues - but I won’t complicate this post with them.

Today’s previously scheduled Hearing was deferred till tomorrow afternoon. It’s my understanding (and that’s all it is, so take it for what it’s worth) that first on the agenda tomorrow will be the ERC’s ruling on what issues are to be addressed (and determined) in the Hearing process.

Second, I understand that the ERC will rule on the Legal issues (see prior post).

Presuming the ERC finds that it does have jurisdiction and is not preempted by EPIRA, then I expect the cross-examination of the primary petitioner, PIPPA, will continue from where they left off Monday. But I find it interesting that the petitioners have not entered any supporting direct testimony (evidence) into the record - only their initial pleading which included the proposed Terms of Reference.

I hope I can attend tomorrow to see how this starts to play out.

Health Update: On a hunch, my gastroenterologist has me on a gluten-free diet to see if I have an intolerance to it. Gluten in found in wheat, rye, and barley. Interestingly, I’ve had no problems since I’ve been off gluten. Bad news: beer is bad. But wine is fine. I can live with that.

The big question that is emerging, as I see it, is:

“What impact will this have on the residual captive customers of the DUs.”

The petitioning group asserts that over 2,000 MW will be made available under this program.

So the emerging corollary question, therefore, is:

“What’s happening with this ‘excess’ power right now?”

An article in GMA News quotes Team Energy’s President Frederico Puno as saying, regarding Team Energy’s generating plants:

“TeaM Energy is looking at an excess of 200MW from the 600-MW Sual coal-fired power plant located in Pangasinan and 35 MW from the 700-MW Pagbilao coal-fired plant in Quezon.”

“The excess of more than 200 MW cannot be sold to industries if there isn’t an interim open access regime, since output from these plants is now bound under supply contracts to the National Power Corporation (Napocor).”

Is that last sentence a newspaper misquote? (happens a lot) or, if not, can someone tell me what it means? If the 200 MW is now bound under supply contracts to NPC, how does the proposed Interim Access TOR change that?

It’s key: what is happening with the excess 200 MW today? Is Team Energy sitting on it or is it going some place already?

If it’s going some place already, then it’s ending up in the hands of consumers. Will Interim Open Access put it in the hands of different consumers (i.e. just those eligible for Interim Open Access) and take it from the hands of others? This is, at least in part, one of the concerns the ERC intend to look into, I understand.

All of the attendees were from the ECs, except for one private utility. Plus Meralco dropped in for about 10 minutes. None of the Luzon group had submitted comments or questions ahead of time - so we went through pages and pages of comments/questions submitted by the Visayas and Mindanao groups.

A lot of comments had to do with harmonization with NEA requirements. ERC asserted the point that the ERC has a different purpose (and therefore different filing requirements) - a purpose that is focused on validating the appropriateness of cost incurrence that will have an impact on electric rates and they further asserted that NEA seemed to have more of a planning focus.

I don’t believe NEA was there - there was no rebuttal. But it does seem a valid argument. I think we’re still in the throes of thrashing out the regulatory oversight of the ECs between NEA and ERC - a transition that began around 1993/94. ERC is actively establishing itself as the dominant regulating entity on many facets of the ECs operations, it seems to me.

When the ERB first assumed tariff authority over ECs from the NEA, they initially gave substantial weight to whether the tariff requests had been approved by NEA. Now, I’m not even sure that’s an ERC consideration at all. NEA rules and regulations are becoming less and less relevant in ERC’s eyes - just my take. ERC now is establishing firm control of capital expenditures and plans - at least if the ECs want rate recovery for those investments.

But of course, both the private DUs and the ECs are all moving toward types of performance-based ratemaking which will pre-empt most (but not all) of the capex issues. Even if (or when) the ECs move to the new Benchmarking methodology for tariffs, there will still be special circumstances where emergency or special capex expenditures will have to be made that fall outside of the PBR proceedings - and it is those cases that will continue to be covered by these new Capex Rules.

For the past six or so weeks I’ve been fighting (how can I put this delicately) “digestive track disorders.” Yes, lots and lots of trips to the bathroom. I was in the hospital for three days and that conveniently gave me time to get a colonoscopy. But basically I’ve been meeting with my gastroenterologist weekly as we move through tests and try treatments.

After two rounds of different antibiotics it’s probably unlikely, but still possible, that it’s a microorganism problem. The colonoscopy showed a perfectly healthy colon with no problems. A CT scan of my full abdominal area shows absolutely no indications of problems - so much so that my doctor has not followed through with a purely diagnostic endoscopy he earlier considered. All of my blood work, so far, is showing no signs of any problems going on - all normal.

I’ve had absolutely no tummy pain through all of this. In general, my appetite is quite good - I feel like eating anything, although my doctor has me on a low fat diet. So in a way I count my lucky stars. As bad as it seems to me at times, it could be a lot worse.

My wife has come up to Manila from our home in Mindanao, with our new baby and her yaya, to be with me here for several weeks and getting good home-cooked meals every day is helping. And just having Jenny and Isabella around gives me the psychological equivalent of a sugar boost.