By John Lester Naguna
PASAY CITY (PIA) — Energy ministers and regulatory chiefs across Southeast Asia launched the ASEAN School of Regulation (ASR) on Wednesday, creating a permanent regional training academy designed to harmonize market rules and equip regulators for cross-border power trade under the ASEAN Power Grid (APG).
Officiating the launch on the sidelines of the 44th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM44) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Energy Secretary Sharon S. Garin warned that multi-billion-dollar transmission cables will fail to deliver cheaper, reliable power without regulators who can synchronize national electricity markets.
“Physical connectivity must be matched by regulatory capability. Transmission lines alone cannot create an integrated regional power system,” Garin said. “Regional power trade also requires rules that work across borders, institutions that can implement them, and regulators who understand one another’s markets.”
The school will be permanently hosted in Malaysia at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) under the stewardship of the Energy Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Tenaga), operating under the motto “Shaping Regulation, Powering ASEAN.”
The launch represents a joint milestone between Malaysia and the Philippines, whose Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), led by Chairperson Francis Saturnino Juan, currently chairs the ASEAN Energy Regulators Network (AERN).
Dato’ Sri Haji Mat Zaidi bin Mohd Kelly, Secretary General of Malaysia’s Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA), pointed out that power demand across Southeast Asia has surged roughly 40% since 2015, complicating efforts to decarbonize grids while keeping retail rates stable.
“Over the years, ASEAN regulators have benefited from many capacity-building programs, workshops, and technical assistance… but much of this support has been organized around individual programs,” Mat Zaidi said. “The school provides a more sustained and structured approach to developing regulatory capability within ASEAN, providing a mechanism to retain that knowledge, build on it systematically, and pass it on to the next generation of regulators.”
ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Kao Kim Hourn noted that regulatory coherence directly dictates household electricity bills and business costs, urging the school to prioritize consumer welfare, tariff fairness, and cross-border power wheeling arrangements.
“Energy regulators carry a profound responsibility. Their decisions affect the electricity bills that families pay, the reliability of power that businesses depend on, and the confidence of investors committing resources for decades to come,” Dr. Kao said. “Cross-border electricity trade requires mutual confidence in how our systems are governed, how responsibilities are shared, and how benefits can be realized fairly.”
The initiative is supported by international partners including the European Union, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), UNOPS Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP), and the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE).
Garin revealed that the Department of Energy is pursuing a parallel domestic model, currently planning a Center for Excellence in Energy featuring a specialized training academy, research hub, and museum to help Philippine policy officers keep up with rapid clean-tech advancements.
“Technology is so dynamic that the policies have to catch up to the technologies being brought in,” Garin said, calling the regional regulatory academy a vital cornerstone to protect consumers and build investor confidence across the 11-country bloc. (JLN/PIA-NCR)
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