By Sheldeen Joy Talavera, Reporter

The Philippines' Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is drawing up a five-year plan that would allow every electricity consumer in the country to choose their own power supplier by 2031.

Under the roadmap, the eligibility threshold for the retail competition and open access (RCOA) program will be lowered in stages between 2027 and 2031. The consumption threshold currently stands at 100 kilowatts (kW).

"By 2031, every Filipino electricity end-user, from the largest factory to the smallest household, will have the right and the practical means to choose a supplier, supported by smart metering, trusted market data, and strong consumer protections," the regulator said.

The ERC recently cut the threshold from 500 kW to 100 kW, extending RCOA eligibility to an estimated 12,000 mid-sized commercial and industrial users.

At present, captive customers purchase electricity from the distribution utility holding the franchise in their area. Once their demand crosses the applicable threshold, they may opt to switch to another supplier. Everyone below the threshold — including all households — remains captive, an arrangement the staged reductions are designed to unwind.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, the ERC is mandated to progressively lower the minimum electricity demand required for consumers to participate in the competitive retail market. The 2031 endpoint would complete that mandate three decades after the law's passage.

ERC Chairman Francis Saturnino C. Juan said the next phase aims to bring the threshold down to 50 kW in 2027, in a sustained push "until we reach the household level," backed by stakeholder readiness and accelerated approvals of capital projects for metering.

The commission also intends to strengthen consumer protections for small contestable customers and to adopt a national Advanced Metering Infrastructure roll-out plan.

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, which operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, will establish a centralized metering data hub designed to serve as a "single, neutral data platform." The hub sits at the center of the plan: retail choice at scale depends on each customer's consumption being reliably matched to the right connection point, retailer, and meter provider.

"When retail choice reaches millions of small customers, the market's main operational challenge is no longer generation or contracting but data: knowing which customer is at which connection point, who their retailer and meter provider are, and what they consumed in each interval," the ERC said.

In 2028, the eligibility threshold will be held at 50 kW to give the industry time to adjust. During that year, the central data platform is scheduled to launch its initial registry services, with the first batch of smart meters due for deployment.

Smart meter installations are expected to accelerate in 2029, when pilot programs begin in condominiums, subdivisions, and housing cooperatives. These pilots would allow groups of residents to pool their electricity demand and switch suppliers collectively — a mechanism that extends choice to customers whose individual usage falls below the threshold.

If the earlier phases meet their performance targets, the threshold would subsequently be lowered to 30 kW, opening the competitive market to small commercial establishments, bakeries, and large households. The milestones to watch before that final step are the 2027 reduction to 50 kW, the 2028 registry launch, and the 2029 pilots, since each is a stated precondition for the phases that follow.

By 2031, the remaining eligibility threshold is set to be removed entirely, giving all households the right to choose their electricity retailer once a compatible smart meter has been installed.

As of August 2026, 2,692 contestable customers and 311 retail aggregated groups had already switched suppliers under the RCOA framework — a base measured in the thousands against a roadmap aimed at millions of small customers.

"Success depends less on the speed at which thresholds fall than on the strength of what stands behind them: smart meters in place, a trusted central data hub, competitive metering services, financially sound retailers, and consumer protections suited to households," the ERC said.