ERC targets audit of NGCP assets by October

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is still looking for private auditors to check into the facilities run by privately led National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

In Monday’s Senate Energy Committee hearing, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said the security concerns on the transmission firm’s assets might be raised to the President, so the audit can proceed months after the panel prodded the company to undergo it. NGCP was alleged to be refusing state audit.

But NGCP said it “has never resisted any audit,” and it is just awaiting the government regulator’s order to look into its books.

“All NGCP asks that it can be done in accordance with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations, as well as the provisions of its concession agreement and franchise,” it said in a statement sent to ����ý.   

“The ERC has already issued an order regarding the audit of NGCP, and we are awaiting only the details in this regard,” it added.

The audit on NGCP’s transmission assets is expected to be conducted either by this month or by October, “depending on the bidding process to be conducted,” ERC Commissioner Floresindo B. Digal said in a Viber message.

In November last year, Sen. Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel filed Senate Resolution No. 223 which seeks to probe the transmission company’s facilities and the implication of its ownership to national security. NGCP is owned by a consortium led by Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. of Henry Sy, Jr., Calaca High Power Corp. of Robert Coyiuto, Jr., and the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), which holds a 40% interest.

“In its ten years of being the system operator of the country’s transmission grid, some of its activities have raised government and public concerns, particularly lingering questions on the vulnerability of the national grid to cyber and other forms of security attacks,” the Department of Energy (DoE) said in a statement in February.

Legislators wanted the company to submit into an audit by the DoE and state-led National Transmission Corp. (TransCo). But NGCP said it will only agree on a review led by the ERC, which is the “only government audit prescribed by law.” It referred to a provision under Republic Act No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

A Senate hearing on the resolution was canceled in March due to the absence of NGCP President Anthony L. Almeda for health reasons. Sen. Gatchalian, who leads the Senate energy committee, said they are still looking for a time to continue the hearing.

“I suggested to the National Security Adviser to bring this up to the President because… it’s a transmission grid operating in our entire nation, and it’s imbued with public interest and national security,” Sen. Gatchalian said in the recent hearing.

“The President should already execute some form of instruction to conduct that inspection in the spirit of national security,” he added.

The NGCP was given a government franchise on December 1, 2008, to run state-owned transmission facilities. Sen. Gatchalian has warned that its franchise will get revoked if it will not undergo government audit. — Adam J. Ang