THE SUPREME Court (SC) has denied a company's petition questioning the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling on a case decided by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
In a nine-page resolution uploaded to the SC website on March 15, the high court's First Division denied the petition for review filed by SKK Steel Corporation "for failure to show any reversible error on the part of the Court of Appeals".
The SC ruling upheld the 2014 decision of the CA which reversed the 2013 order of the ERC originally directing the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to refund to SKK Steel Corp. the PHP18 million representing ancillary charges.
The CA, in its 2014 ruling setting aside the ERC order, directed the NGCP to pay PHP8 million instead of PHP18 million to SKK Steel Corp.
SKK Steel Corp. then elevated the case to the SC claiming that the findings of the ERC should have been "given great respect by the appellate court (CA) due to its (ERC's) area of expertise in the field of energy laws".
The SC, in upholding the CA, said the "adjudicative power that administrative bodies (such as the ERC) may exercise comes with the corresponding power of the CA to review on appeal their (agencies') decisions".
It said that "the CA is still empowered to make its own factual evaluations even if factual findings of administrative agencies (such as ERC) are accorded great respect and are sometimes regarded as binding".
In 2009, NGCP took over the business of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) of transmitting electricity through high voltage backbone systems of interconnected transmission lines, substations, and related facilities.(Benjamin Pulta)
