Ducut faces 2nd complaint over power rate hike - Manila Standard Today

A SECOND administrative complaint was filed Thursday against Energy Regulatory Commission chairwoman Zenaida Ducut for approving Manila Electric Company’s “unusually high and unwarranted” power rate increases.

The complaint-affidavit was signed by 15 sectoral leaders from various homeowners’ associations, informal settlers’ federations and women’s groups, and was filed with the Palace records office.

The groups called on President Benigno Aquino III to immediately remove Ducut for approving Meralco’s rate application “without any public consultation or regulatory investigation.”

“Like her pork barrel past, Ducut as chief energy regulator is also a fiasco,” said Manny Manato of the Santolan Riverside Neighborhood Federation.

“How she could have failed to exercise the barest minimum of regulation to a proposed power rate hike that is appallingly high is unimaginable.

“Ducut’s failure to act knowing too well that the record-high generation charge will be passed to hapless consumers is mind-boggling if not ruthless. This person has no business [leading] a regulatory body. Her continued stay in office is a mockery of the concept of regulation with the public at the losing end of this cruel joke.”

The groups also called on Congress to repeal the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.

“Epira must be replaced with a law where the power industry is under democratic and participatory public control,” Manato said.

The Akbayan party-list group earlier filed an administrative complaint against Ducut, which was received by the office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs-Investigative and Adjudicatory Division.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said Ducut failed to give due notice to the public on the rate hike, the highest since Epira took effect.

He said Ducut also committed gross neglect of duty when the ERC approved Meralco’s Power Supply Agreements with generation companies even if the PSAs did not provide for replacement power in the event of scheduled or forced outages of power plants.

“Under Ducut’s watch, the ERC did not require power suppliers to supply Meralco with replacement capacity and electrical output,” Bellos said.

“This is a clear evidence of negligence that violates one of the fundamental policies embodied in the Epira: to ensure the quality, reliability, security and affordability of the supply of electric power.”

Under Section 46 of the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Services, gross neglect of duty is punishable by dismissal from the service.

Ducut earlier appealed for understanding. She said the ERC would need at least two months to complete its probe on the alleged collusion and market abuse by the power producers that might have led to the spike in electricity rates.

“The ERC-Investigating Unit is doing its best to come up with an impartial and comprehensive investigation report,” Ducut said.

She said “thousands of hours of trading intervals and price offers” needed to be examined thoroughly.

Ducut was a congressional representative of Pampanga’s second district from 1995 to 2004.

She was appointed ERC hed in 2008 by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who now represents the district.

Last year, Ducut was charged with misuse of funds in the second set of cases filed in the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam.

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