Malacañang on Saturday asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to explain the 25-centavo per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase in the generation charge by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on its customers.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the Palace will summon the commission for allowing the increase in the generation charge in electricity bills.

“The ERC should explain that,” he told government-run radio station DzRB, stressing that government has the prime duty to protect the public interest.

Meralco attributed the increase in the generation charge to the rise in the cost of power purchased by Meralco from the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and its independent power producers, including the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

It also said the peso depreciation and the increasing fuel cost factored in the increase of the overall generation costs.

Meanwhile, some oil companies are reportedly itching to raise pump prices once Executive Order (EO) 839 — the presidential edict ordering a price freeze on fuel products in Luzon — is lifted.

Small players Eastern Petroleum and Flying V have both bared plans to hike prices by as much as P5 per liter to recover some of their losses resulting from the EO.

It has been two weeks since the country’s oil firms complied with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s directive fixing pump prices to the October 15 price levels. They have been selling at a loss ever since, oil executives have claimed.

Eastern Petroleum President Fernando Martinez said that a post-EO price increase would surely happen, but it would be carried out “in transience” so that consumers won’t feel the burden of a big hike.

“Hindi naman ganun ang mga oil companies,” Martinez said as if to dispel common notion that oil firms are callous to its customers.

On the other hand, Flying V Chairman Chito Villavicencio is looking at imposing “staggered” increases of smaller increments after the price freeze is revoked.

“I think it (hike) should be divided into three weeks, like P1.50 per week,” explained Villavicencio.

The Department of Energy (DoE) has not opposed plans of price increases although there is no telling when the EO would be lifted.

The Consumer and Oil Price Watch (COPW), which in the past has criticized oil firms for alleged overpricing and cartel pricing, seconded the small player’s claim that they have been bleeding because of the EO.

“They’re losing P4 to P5 for every liter and in that sense the EO should be lifted,” COPW Chairman Raul Concepcion said. The oil industry itself has reportedly lost P2.5 billion.

Martinez, also chairman of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA), on Friday reiterated that putting a price ceiling on fuel would do more harm than good in the long run.

“Mas mabigat ang magiging dagok nyan sa economy afterwards. Buong business community takot na takot dyan at di sang-ayon,” the executive said in appealing for the EO’s lifting.

Martinez also insisted that local oil companies have been “very transparent” in computing domestic prices from world market figures. “Two studies have shown that under the 11 years of oil deregulation, ni isang pagsasamantala ay walang nakita.”

“In equal footing, mas mababa pa nga ang presyo ngayon compared nung wala pang deregulation,” he reckoned.

At least one major oil company has brought the issue of EO 839 to court.

And while Malacanang said it welcomed the petition filed by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. against the price freeze, it said it is standing by its directive to protect the interest of the majority.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said it respected the move of Shell to ask the Makati Regional Trial Court for an order to lift EO 839 which it argued as unconstitutional.

“We welcome this petition filed by Shell. But, we are standing by on what is doing for the good of the people,” he said.

He reiterated the government’s appeal to oil companies to support its directive which only seeks to protect the interest of the public.

“We have always been for the rule of law, and we always abide by all decisions once decisions are final and executory,” Remonde said.

SIn its petition for prohibition, mandamus and injunction, Shell called for the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order on EO 839, saying it failed to meet certain conditions prescribed under the Constitution, including determination of exceptional circumstances warranting the exercise of emergency powers.