Foreign investors often bewail high electricity costs in the Philippines as one of the main reasons that compel them to put their precious money elsewhere rather than here.
But domestic consumers are also up in arms against what they consider as excessive electricity rates increasingly going beyond their reach, and therefore an unnecessary burden for those living in both urban and rural areas.
What’s bothersome in all this is there’s already a law that seeks to bring electricity rates down. Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira), was enacted to institute reforms in the industry.
The major reforms contemplated under the law included the restructuring of the entire power industry to introduce competition in the generation sector, a change from government to private ownership, and a stable regulatory framework for the electricity sector.
But instead of bringing electricity costs down, Epira has failed to do so, more than two decades later, for one reason or another.
This has prompted a lawmaker, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, to urge the national government to implement immediate policy changes to reduce power costs.
One, the Energy Regulatory Commission or ERC should reduce the excessively high 15 percent weighted average cost of capital that she says has benefited Meralco and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) since 2015.
If this is done, there will certainly be a decrease in distribution and transmission charges, easing the burden on consumers.
Two, the ERC and the Department of Energy should investigate fraudulent contracts, power shortages and delayed transmission projects that directly affect consumers.
They should also correct and monitor power supply agreements between generation companies and distribution utilities.
And three, the government should reject the proposed imposition of a value-added tax on “already expensive” power rates as this would further burden families across the archipelago.
Two years ago, the legislators called for a probe of the alleged failure of government agencies to ensure the affordability of electricity rates in the country. Senate Resolution No. 746 wanted to determine the “deficiencies and failures” of the DOE and the ERC to bring down power rates in the country.
Today, however, power rates still remain high, despite Epira, and its objectives of reliable and secure electricity supply likely to remain just that: a promise. Perhaps never to be fulfilled at all?
We’ll be more than glad, like other consumers, to be proven wrong.