Group says EPIRA a failure

MANILA, Philippines - A consumers' welfare advocacy group on Wednesday maintained that the Electric Power Industry Reform Act failed to bring the rising cost of electric power down.

Pete Ilagan, president of the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reform, said that the EPIRA has instead pushed the power rate up.

"Nakikita natin na ang efforts ngayon ng Korte Suprema ay makuha natin mailabas ang kasagutan sa maraming tanong natin kung bakit failure ang EPIRA...parang may problema itong ating estado sa pagpausad nitong reporma," Ilagan told a media forum in Greenhills, San Juan City.

Nasecor filed a separate petition before the High Court, seeking to stop the power rate hike of power distributor Manila Electric Company. The rate adjustment was approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission December last year.

Ilagan said that instead of increasing power rates, Meralco should have cut the cost of electricity of its customers.

Ilagan argued that the power firm has fixed capital recovery mechanism which prevents it from losing money.

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"Fixed ang capital recovery nila. Fixed yan so pinag uusapang dapat lumiliit ang singil sa kuryente...every month naniningil naman,"he added.

He said Meralco customers should be expecting that cost of electricity to go down.

"More than 20 percent nakaka-recover sila. Umaasa tayo na bumababa sila every year," he added.

Meanwhile, Ilagan said their group welcomes the development at the High Court, ordering Meralco and other power generators to produce the documents to justify the power hike.

"Tayo po ay natutuwa at nagpapasalamat sa Korte Suprema lalong lao na sa kanyang direktiba na binigyan nya ng direktiba ang lahat ng respondents di po lamang yung ERC, Meralco, at Department of Energy. Sinama na rin po ang power generators na pinasama nila sa amended petition na isumite lahat ng dokumentong binanggit ng Korte Suprema," Ilagan said.

He said the oral arguments at the High Court would enlighten the electric power consumers on how the rate adjustments are computed.

"So hinahanap natin sa darating na paglilitis o dyan sa hearing makikita natin ngayon ang mga kasagutan sa marami nating tanong na di nabibigyan ngkasagutan sa maraming taon na nagdaan ..lalong lalo na pano ba napepresyuhan ang kuryente mula sa planta? Paano bang nagaawa itong blended rates? Papaano ba natin makikita ang least cost?

"Halimbawa, sa isang coal plant, ano ba ang kanyang least cost sa utilizaton ng planta? sapagkat ito ang nakikita nating kasagutan at realization ng objective ng EPIRA na ibaba ang presyo ng power generation sector," he said.

Source: philstar.com - Nation