The Advocates and Keepers Organization of Overseas Filipino Workers (AKO-OFW) urged the government and the industry to work together to address inadequate power supply which they dubbed as the root cause of high generation costs.
The group also welcomed the recent Supreme Court decision allowing the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to implement a staggered collection of generation costs incurred in November 2013.
“The High Court’s decision finally puts a closure to this long-standing issue that hounds not only power consumers but the entire power industry supply chain,” Dr. Chie Umandap, AKO-OFW Chairman, said in a statement.
“It is unfortunate that this issue had to endure eight (8) long years before finally reaching a resolution. Had it been enacted earlier prior to the pandemic, then this would have been completed already. Thus, the Supreme Court’s decision needs to be implemented swiftly since delaying this could come at even more challenging times.”
Umandap said the move of ERC allowing Meralco to stagger these stranded costs is fair to consumers, as he proposed that the regulator order much longer payment terms to further cushion the impact of the generation costs to the paying consumers.
Umandap said these costs were due to lack of reliable generating capacity — as power plants especially aging ones are prone to unscheduled shutdowns, due to varying reasons.
He said this situation could have been averted if more power plants were built in the country.
“The solution is to prioritize energy investments. Building power plants take a minimum of three years, thus investment decisions must be made as soon as possible. Additional power generation supply is key in ensuring the government’s economic goals are achieved,” Umandap said.
“We are confident that the administration will find the solution to finally put this issue to rest. Whether it is nuclear, renewable or even traditional based power plants, paramount at this time is to build reliable and dependable capacity that can meet the country’s expected growth trajectory.”
