A conference of vital importance to Filipino households and the entire economy was held January 22 to 25 in San Mateo, Rizal, on the theme “Unmasking the true costs of electricity in the Philippines.” Organized by consumer groups under the umbrellas of the Freedom from Debt Coalition and the Foundation for a Sustainable Society Inc., experts who have been tracking down the cost of electricity made presentations to show why electricity costs so much in our country.
The experts explained why power costs so much here and how these costs could go down. The main culprits pinpointed—apart from the power companies—are the government officials in the Energy Regulatory Commision who have implemented the Electricity Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) in such a way that it benefits the power companies and distributors to the disadvantage of the whole economy.
The high cost of power in our country, which is second only to costs in Japan, prevents full-scale growth of our manufacturing and export sectors and kills basic industries, like cement-making. It makes the Philippines an unattractive site for foreign investors whose businesses and factories require heavy use of electricity.
Expensive electricity also adds to the hardships of the majority of Filipino families, those who are poor and those who are just able to live above the poverty line.
Secretary of Energy Jose Almendras attended the conference. He gave a talk about government’s plans to improve the situation.
An advocacy group pressing for government action to lower electricity rates challenged him to stop the sale—the privatization—of remaining government-owned power plants.
Secretary Almendras said he was open to that suggestion. If the Aquino administration does halt the sale of these remaining plants to private corporations, the pro-consumer experts at the conference saw it as just the first correct step of many that the government must take to undo the harm that the failed EPIRA has done.
Other urgent steps must be to stop the present Energy Regulatory Commission commissioners from pursuing their course of not using their powers to regulate the power industry in a way that would lead to lower costs instead of the opposite.
The two articles we are sharing with our readers are the most instructive presentations at the conference, detailing why electricity costs so much in our country and how it has happened.
Some other articles we plan to run in future issues are: (a) Democratizing electricity-production ownership, (b) Ten reasons why electricity bills are high, (c) A dozen ways to reduce electricity rates, (d) Ancillary charges and performance-based rating.
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