ERC hiring additional technical staff

MANILA, Philippines - The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is hiring more technical staff to speed up the processing of unresolved cases after a new chairman took the helm of the agency.

Hiring more competent staff within ERC is among the priorities of recently appointed chairman Jose Vicente Salazar to add to the agency’s current 220 manpower.

“We recognize the urgency the need to do this so we will immediately work on this,” Salazar said.

The power regulator is leaning towards hiring more staff than tapping third party consultants to boost the technical capability of the agency.

“It’s better if we can hire more technical people and we can attract people from the private sector to join us so they can provide the technical skills,” Salazar said.

“We need to bring in fresh perspective, equipped with the technical and legal capabilities,” he added.

Given this, the ERC has asked the Department of Budget and Management to approve the additional plantilla of personnel in order to reduce the backlog of cases.

“While there are priority cases, all undecided cases for many years now are also going to be in our priority list,” Salazar said.

The power regulator is also seeking for a 25 percent increase in the salary of employees and working on providing employees with transport services and health benefits.

“In terms of the salary increase, we are just catching up with the other government agencies,” Salazar said, noting this has been pending since 2001.

The ERC has been criticized for being slow in resolving cases, particularly with the probe on the alleged collusion among the power generators that drove a record-high power rate hike in December 2013 and January 2014.

It was only last June that the ERC’s investigating unit released its report on the issue, where 12 power players were found to have withheld power supply – considered an anti-competitive behavior – during that time.