gr_180642_2016

REYES, J.:

This is a petition for review on certiorari1under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court assailing the Resolution2 dated July 11, 2007 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 99268 which dismissed the appeal filed by petitioner Nueva Ecija I Electric Cooperative Incorporated (NEECO I) for failure to comply with Sections 5 and 6 of Rule 43 of the Rules of Court. The Facts NEECO I is a rural electric cooperative organized and existing by virtue of Presidential Decree (P.D.) No. 269;3 it is a member of the Central Luzon Electric Cooperatives Association (CLECA). NEECO I was among the various rural electric cooperatives directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to refund their over-recoveries arising from the implementation of the Purchased Power Adjustment (PPA) Clause under Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7832 or the Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994.

The petitions of other rural electric cooperatives against the said ERC directives were resolved by the Court en bane on September 18, 2002 in Association of Southern Tagalog Electric Cooperatives, Inc. v. ERC4 (hereinafter referred to as ASTEC), the background facts5 of which are the same antecedents that gave rise to the present controversy. R.A. No. 7832 was enacted on December 8, 1994, imposing a cap on the recoverable rate of system loss that may be charged by rural electric cooperatives to their consumers. Section 10 of the law provides: Section 10.

Rationalization of System Losses by Phasing out Pifferage Losses as a Component Thereof - There is hereby established a cap on the recoverable rate of system losses as follows: x x x x (b) For rural electric cooperatives: (i) Twenty-two percent (22%) at the end of the first year following the effectivity of this Act; (ii) Twenty percent (20%) at the end of the second year following the effectivity of this Act; (iii) Eighteen percent (18%) at the end of the third year following the effectivity of this Act; (iv) Sixteen percent (16%) at the end of the fourth year following the effectivity of this Act; and (v) Fourteen percent (14%) at the end of the fifth year following the effectivity of this Act. Provided, That the ERB is hereby authorized to determine at the end of the fifth year following the effectivity of this Act, and as often as is necessary, taking into account the viability of rural electric cooperatives and the interest of the consumers, whether the caps herein or theretofore established shall be reduced further which shall, in no case, be lower than nine percent (9%) and accordingly fix the date of the effectivity of the new caps.

x x x x The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of R.A. No. 7832 required every rural electric cooperative to file with the Energy Regulatory Board (ERB), on or before September 30, 1995, an application for approval of an amended PP A Clause incorporating the cap on the recoverable rate of system loss to be included in its schedule of rates. Section 5, Rule IX of the IRR of R.A. No. 7832 provided for the following guiding formula for the amended PP A Clause: Section 5. Automalic Cost Adjustment Formula.

- x x x x The automatic cost adjustment of every electric cooperative shall be guided by the following formula: Purchased Power Adjustment Clause (PPA) = A