WHEREAS, Republic Act (RA) No. 9136 or the "Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001" (EPIRA) provides the policy of the State, among others, a) to ensure the quality, reliability, security and affordability of the supply of electric power; 2) to ensure transparent and reasonable prices of electricity in a regime of free and fair competition and full public accountability to achieve greater operational and economic efficiency and enhance the competrtiveness of Philippine products in the global market; and, 3) to promote the utilization of indigenous and new and renewable energy resources in power generation in order to reduce dependence on imported energy;