Rawpixel.Com from Freepik<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nTHE PHILIPPINE Competition Commission (PCC) said the federal government might have to review rules governing firms involved in each electricity generation and retail supply, citing competition concerns within the retail electricity market.<\/p>\n
Citing its market study, the PCC said retail electricity suppliers (RES) affiliated with power generators could have easier access to electricity supply, making it tougher for other industry players to compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf generators would prioritize supplying electricity through bilateral contracts, spot market, and retail supply agreement with their affiliate retailer, independent retailers could be left with residual supply,\u201d the competition watchdog said in a press release on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\nThe PCC said revisiting policies on vertical integration between generation and retail distribution could also be crucial to reinforce competition within the retail market.<\/p>\n
There are 57 licensed RES and 30 authorized local RES, based on Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) data as of end-2025.<\/span><\/p>\nElectricity retailing allows licensed suppliers to sell electricity on to eligible consumers, as stipulated under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).<\/p>\n
The law mandates the implementation of retail competition and open access (RCOA), which allows consumers to decide on their electricity supplier.<\/p>\n
As of end-2025, there have been 3,737 eligible end-users that met the brink, representing an actual demand of 6.36 gigawatts, in keeping with the ERC.<\/p>\n
Initial findings of the PCC\u2019s market study showed that barriers proceed to limit the power of eligible customers to modify to RES, including limited awareness of the method and delays within the procurement and installation of retail metering systems.<\/span><\/p>\nThe PCC also noted a high level of \u201caffiliate switching,\u201d where customers move between retail suppliers affiliated with the identical parent company.<\/p>\n
It said such practices don’t necessarily lead to increased competition and should require measures to ease the entry of independent retailers to broaden consumer selection.<\/p>\n
The agency recently conducted a strategic policy dialogue with the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) to debate the findings of its study on competition and switching barriers within the retail electricity market.<\/p>\n
IEMOP operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, where energy firms can buy power when long-term contracted supply is insufficient.<\/p>\n
Each agencies expressed interest in collaborating, including sharing data and research outputs, in addition to promoting awareness of customer selection programs available to eligible electricity consumers.<\/p>\n
Starting June, the minimum threshold for participation within the retail market shall be lowered from 500 kilowatts (kW) to 100 kW, a move expected to extend customer participation and potentially support competition.<\/span><\/p>\nTo organize for the anticipated increase, IEMOP is upgrading its central registration system to streamline and automate customer switching requirements. \u2014 Sheldeen Joy Talavera<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STOCK PHOTO | Image by Rawpixel.Com from Freepik THE PHILIPPINE Competition Commission (PCC) said the federal government might have to review rules governing firms involved in each electricity generation and retail supply, citing competition concerns within the retail electricity market. Citing its market study, the PCC said retail electricity suppliers (RES) affiliated with power generators […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1261,824,8441,962,20019,3228,104],"class_list":["post-314643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-competition","tag-concerns","tag-flags","tag-market","tag-pcc","tag-power","tag-retail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314643"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314646,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314643\/revisions\/314646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}