A ‘single entry and single exit’ rule will be imposed upon power industry stakeholders who will be participating in the Power Supply Option Program (PSOP), or the interim open access that is anticipated to initially extend power of choice to electricity end-users.

In the final rules issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the ‘single entry-single exit’ policy was interpreted in a manner that “should the eligible customer decides to exit from the PSOP and return to the regulated retail rates of the DU (distribution utility), said customer shall no longer be allowed to revert to the PSOP for the rest of the program.”

It was further emphasized that should a qualified customer avails of the PSOP, its supply must come from its chosen provider (supplier) for the entire stretch of its participation in the program.

“For the duration of the PSOP, a policy of single entry and single exit by the eligible customer shall be enforced,” the ERC rules prescribed.

Qualified to participate in the PSOP are large end-users which logged “monthly average peak demand of at least one megawatt for the preceding 12 months.” This would be notwithstanding some months when the customers’ demand had fallen below 1.0MW, so long as the resulting average would still be within the megawatt threshold. The ERC has also provided rules for registration of participants.

The PSOP rules indicated that suppliers could range from generation companies, including the owners of the privatized National Power Corporation (NPC) plants; independent power producer administrators (IPPAs), retail electricity suppliers (RES) and even distribution utilities, which may extend de facto service within their franchise areas.

The ERC has already issued the resolution giving way to the implementation of PSOP in the Luzon grid, commencing 90 days after the completion of prescribed conditions.

The policy underpinnings would be contingent upon: a) the transfer of the Calaca coal-fired power facility or its equivalent capacity, to a private sector buyer; and, b) the privatization of at least 70 percent of the total capacity of generating assets of NPC in Luzon and Visayas. Both conditions so far have already been accomplished.

With the turnover of the Calaca plant in December to buyer DMCI Holdings, it is expected that the kick-off timeframe for interim open access in the deregulated power industry will be around March this year.