An electric company line-man rides an elevated platform called a "cherry-picker" as he navigates under overhead electric meters along Recto Avenue in Manila on July 31, 2019. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA - San Miguel Corp’s power unit on Wednesday said it is committed to ensuring sufficient energy supply but said it "regrets" the denial of its proposed rate hike that will "cripple" the power firm.
SMC Global Power and Meralco earlier filed for temporary relief of their 2019 power supply agreements, and asked that the power generator be allowed to charge higher rates.
Last August SMC Global Power said this was needed to recover part of its fuel costs after incurring huge losses from high coal prices. Two of its facilities had already incurred combined losses of P15 billion since 2021 because of the spike in fuel prices, San Miguel said.
The Energy Regulatory Commission however denied SMC’s petition, noting the 10-year validity of the financial contracts entered into by the relevant firms, which is meant to protect consumers.
SMC Global however said Meralco's computation proved that the proposed rate hike petition would have served the best interest of the consumers compared to other options.
"The ERC, armed with such data, knows too well that denying the petition will not only cripple us, but more importantly, burden consumers who will have to face higher electricity bills," SMC Global Power said.
The company said that despite the junking of its proposed rate hike, it "make sure Meralco's energy supply is not disrupted.
“Despite the present challenges, we will never withhold our available power capacity to the detriment of the country and the consumers," it added.
SMC however also said it will “continue to explore other legal remedies” on the issue.
- with a report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News
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