House energy panel bent on EPIRA amendments

The House Committee on Energy is "very committed" to efforts to amend the 22-year-old Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), panel vice chairman Camarines Sur Rep. Arnie Fuentebella said yesterday.

“Our chairman (Marinduque lone district Rep.) Lord (Allan) Velasco is very committed to fast-track this bill," Fuentebella said in a briefing held by the committee with energy sector stakeholders.

But Fuentebella said the Senate should also do their part in amending EPIRA.

"Ang nangyayari naman po kasi minsan, pag natapos natin dito sa Kongreso, kailan po tatapusin sa Senado? (Sometimes what happens is we accomplish our task here in the House, but what about the Senate?) So we need also their commitment," Fuentebella said.

"Tulad ng sinabi ko (Like what I said), our chairman Lord Velasco is committed to fast-track especially our Speaker Martin Romualdez, since this is a priority bill of the President and it’s high time, even for us being the son of the ‘Father of EPIRA,’” Fuentebella said.

Discussed during the briefing was the Department of Energy's (DOE) proposed version of EPIRA.

Enacted in 2001, the EPIRA was hoped to make electricity rates more affordable in the country. Critics of the law said it has failed in that aspect.

Last year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. called on Congress to overhaul the two-decade-old law.

Romualdez had earlier secured the commitment of party leaders in the House of Representatives for the passage of the majority if not all of the remaining priority measures of the Marcos administration listed under the Legislative-Executive Advisory Council (LEDAC) before the sine die adjournment of Congress on June 3.

Included among these priority measures is the amendment to the controversial EPIRA.

The first hearing on the proposals to amend the law will be held next week.

Velasco is a former House Speaker Fuentebella is the son of the late former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella who served from 2000 to 2001.