A consumer group has petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) to declare unconstitutional a resolution issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) allowing electric cooperatives to collect funds totaling P100 billion from consumers in order to pay their debts.

The National Alliance for Consumer Empowerment of Electric Cooperatives (Naceelco) argued that the said resolution is unconstitutional since it results in the unlawful taking of property.

The group explained that Resolution No. 14-2001 of the ERC allowed electric cooperatives to impose additional charges against consumers in order to service the debts incurred by electric cooperatives.

Naceelco also argued that the said resolution violated Section 37 of Presidential Decree No. 269.

The said section provides that member-consumers will not “in any manner answer for any liability or debts incurred by the cooperative and the property of the members shall not be used in the execution thereof.”

The petition, designated as one for certiorari and prohibition, impleads as respondents the ERC and 60 electric cooperatives. The petition also asks for the issuance of a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction.

The cited ERC resolution cited that the imposition of the additional charges is a form of “investment solicitation” meant to fund the expansion and answer for the capital expenditures of the electric cooperatives.

“The unjust collection . . . as authorized and ruled by ERC is contrary to law as nowhere in the provisions of PD 269 does it say that members on a voluntary and cooperative member will provide capital to fund the capital expenditures by cooperatives,” Naceelco, in its petition, stated.

The ERC, in its opposition, meanwhile, argued that the collection was meant to introduce “order in the filing of rate applications, efficiency in the operation of utilities and transparency in the design of the rate structure.”

Naceelcos, conversely, said, “It must be emphasized that were are dealing herewith issues and concerns as well as the proprietary rights and interest of more or less nine million household members-consumers all over the country, with the total contributions amounting to P100 billion, excluding the cost of money,” it further stated.

It further stated that a stoppage of the ERC resolution would ensure a decline of electric rates in the future for the taxes imposed will be further reduced or extinguished.