ANOTHER round of power rate increase this month would be a triple whammy to the people, who have to deal with rotational brown outs amid the dry summer season and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Sen. Grace Poe said yesterday.
“The looming power rate increase coupled with the rotational brownouts in the midst of the pandemic could be a triple whammy too much for our people’s forbearance,” said Poe, chairwoman of the Senate public services committee.
“Why should the Filipino consumers pay more for electricity that comes intermittently and is among the highest rates in Southeast Asia. We cannot be literally groping in the dark as we fight the unseen virus and manage to live through the new normal of strict quarantines,” Poe also said.
Her remarks come in the heels of an announcement from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) that it will impose higher power rates for the month of June due to increasing demand for electricity during the summer season, relentless outages in power plants, and restriction of gas fuel from the Malampaya field.
Meralco said initial calculations indicate an “upward pressure on the generation charge for the month of June 2021 due to the increase in WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) prices.”
The electricity spot market operator said that prices of power supply procured from WESM climbed to P7.72 per kilowatt hour in May compared to a leaner P3.85 per kwh in April.
Poe said the power rate increase is unfair to the people who get intermittent power supply, as she underscored that power producers should have anticipated the increase in electricity demand during the dry season.
Last week, many parts of Metro Manila experienced rotational brownouts, which Meralco said was due to insufficient power supply to meet high consumer demand.
“That the heat, humidity and increased demand are straining electrical grids should have been anticipated and continuously addressed with a comprehensive energy program that will also look into the capabilities of private distributors and sources of power,” Poe said.
“The amendments to the Public Service Act that we are proposing will lead to improved services and lower cost of basic services which our people badly need in this pandemic.
Access to reliable and affordable energy is essential not only for addressing the pandemic, but also for accelerating recovery and building back better,” she added.
The Senate is set to conduct an inquiry on Wednesday on the power outages experienced the past days, as Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, Senate energy committee chair, said Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has a lot of explaining to do after the latter assured that there will be no power shortage during the dry seasons.
