Manila: The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is using its growing revenue collections to make the case for a bigger 2027 budget that would fund faster rate reviews, digital upgrades, and the gradual opening of the competitive electricity market to smaller consumers, eventually including households. During the Senate hearing on the energy sector's proposed budget, ERC Chairperson Francis Saturnino Juan revealed that the regulator generated PHP2.354 billion in 2025, more than double its PHP1.065-billion target and well above its annual appropriation.
According to Philippines News Agency, the ERC is seeking PHP1.706 billion for 2027, but the National Expenditure Program (NEP) provides only PHP944.07 million, which is PHP762.08 million or 44.67 percent below its request. The commission is asking the Senate to reconsider PHP728.16 million of the reductions, particularly funds for maintenance and other operating expenses and capital outlay. Juan highlighted that the affected items would finance regulatory rate-reset consultancies, information technology modernization, and additional capacity to dispose of pending cases.
Part of the additional resources would support ERC's plan to broaden electricity consumer choice after lowering the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) threshold from 500 kilowatts (kW) to 100 kW. RCOA allows qualified consumers to choose their retail electricity supplier instead of sourcing their entire requirement from the distribution utility serving their area. ERC intends to fully implement the 100-kW threshold in 2027 while aligning it with the Green Energy Option Program and Retail Aggregation Program as preparation for a wider retail market.
The commission stressed that residential consumers would not immediately enter the competitive market, as further regulatory work and safeguards would be required before household participation becomes feasible. Juan noted that competitive retail electricity arrangements already generated an estimated PHP19.87 billion in consumer savings in 2025.
The ERC also plans to strengthen enforcement of distribution utilities' least-cost supply obligations, resume regulatory resets for utilities, improve its consumer complaints system, and consolidate its digital services into a single platform. The regulator said the larger request is also backed by improving budget utilization, with full-year utilization rising to 84.2 percent in 2025 from 62.01 percent in 2023. Revenue collections, meanwhile, are expected to remain above the commission's annual spending requirement. As of June 30, ERC had collected PHP958.31 million, with the bulk of its supervision and regulatory fees still expected later in the year.
"This budget request of PHP1.7 billion is more than offset by what we return to the Treasury," Juan stated.
