The Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO) and a group of power plant owners have obtained a writ of preliminary injunction from the Pasig Regional Trial Court that stops the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) from enforcing guidelines that seek to regulate and fix power rates in economic zones.

MERALCO, together with the Private Electric Power Operators Association (PEPOA), filed for the injunction claiming that only the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and not the PEZA, has the authority to regulate distribution utilities and determine electric power rates within the ecozones.

Pending the resolution of the matter, the court issued the injunction to maintain a status quo between the parties.

Under the PEZA guidelines, power distributors operating in the ecozones are required to register with the agency to avail of the P1-per-kilowatthour cut in rates.

PEZA said MERALCO and PEPOA would no longer be allowed to operate inside the ecozones if they failed to comply with the provisions of the guidelines in question.

The distributors have contested this, saying it would violate the franchise granted to them by Congress and will result in huge profit losses because their power supply contracts with customers would be breached.