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Philippines: Antitrust body gains authority to probe power firms

By  |  August 6, 2019

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) signed a memorandum of agreement on Monday, August 5, with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to collaborate on investigations that involve power sector players.

The PCC is assessing whether recent power plant outages were valid “unplanned breakdowns” that inevitably affected supply conditions, or were actually “manipulated” in order to raise electricity prices.

In April, the PCC announced it would look into allegations of possible collusion or abuse of dominance of certain power generators following “simultaneous shutdowns that may have caused an artificial supply shortage and consequently a hike in electricity prices.”

“Our partnership (with ERC) allows for the sharing of information and coordination of enforcement actions toward a more robust competition landscape in the energy sector,” PCC chair Arsenio M. Balisacan said in a statement.

Full Content: Inquirer

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