Gov’t asked to address power issues

Published by rudy Date posted on September 24, 2011

PRIVATE SECTOR groups on Friday urged the government to address continuing power rate hikes and an impending electricity shortage, claiming that existing laws and current policy have failed to serve consumer interests.

“There appears to be no specific and strong action program or roadmap coming from the Executive department and made known and shared with the private sector, that is specifically addressing the major concerns … of escalating power rate increase and pending base load and reserve deficiency in Luzon and the crisis in Mindanao,” Philippinc Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PCCI) President Francis C. Chua said at a press conference.

A joint statement issued during the briefing was signed by the PCCI, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Philippine Steelmakers Association, Foundation for Economic Freedom, and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.

As of 2009, they claimed, industrial and residential power rates in the Philippines were higher than in developed countries. The promise of cheaper power under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), they added, has yet to be realized a decade since the law’s approval.

To address the issue of power rates going up, they urged the following:

• a halt to pending increases and a “strip and build” analysis of power costs where certain costs can be reassigned or deferred;

• put off charging the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.’s stranded costs and consider funding this via the national budget;

• create a “Government Single Power Purchaser” that will conduct auctions and resell electricity at a nominal two-centavo per kilowatt-hour markup;

• give the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) limited fiscal autonomy;

• review the performance-based rate-setting mechanism;

• review the design of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market;

• defer high-costs renewable energy programs;

• focus the direction of the Renewable Energy Board to evaluating RE development;

• review the imposition of membership contributions to the capital component of tariffs charged by power cooperatives; and

• evaluate the benefit of registering the country’s 119 power cooperatives with the Cooperative Development Authority.

Officials particularly pointed to the feed-in tariff (FiT) policy under the renewable energy program, calling it misguided and claiming that it fails to address the fundamental issue of expensive electricity.

“We should be smart enough to wait for the technology to develop and be practical with our decisions. [Foreign groups] are pushing for this [FiT scheme] because of supplier-driven interests. Why are we looking into solar power, when biomass, for example, is so much cheaper?” said Ernest C. Leung, Foundation for Economic Freedom treasurer and a former Finance secretary.

To address supply issues, meanwhile, the private sector groups recommended:

• auctioning off the Agus and Pulangi hydropower plants and accelerating the transfer of two power barges from the Visayas to provide relief to Mindanao;

• accelerate the connection of some island grids to the national grid;

• create additional reserves via an “Anti-electric Power Line Disturbance Order” and imposing at least a 3% reduction in the allowable system loss; and

• that the Energy department use EPIRA provisions to conduct public supply auctions.

Malacañang, they said, should move to “achieve leadership integration” among key players such as the Energy and Finance departments, ERC and the Joint Congressional Power Commission.

April 2025

World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors. Time to spark a global conversation. Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

Monthly Observances:

March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth

Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week

Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work

Trade Union Solidarity Campaigns

No to Trafficking

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

Categories