Marcos urged to resolve power rate hikes
A CONSUMER group on Thursday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to exercise his powers to avoid electricity price increases completely after the Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) suspending the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) denial of its rate hike petition.
In a press conference, the Power for People Coalition (P4P) said the TRO issuance was an act of economic sabotage, saying it will only burden hard-pressed consumers amid the rising inflation.
In a letter submitted to the President, P4P convenor Gerry Arances said: “We write to you, Mr. President, to give you the opportunity to give us a merry, well-lit Christmas, because there is a way to avoid price increases completely. In fact, we can even roll back prices, and it is within your power to do so.”
He further stated: “Much has been said about how the President shouldn’t meddle in this issue when the more pressing question is why are we letting the judiciary disrupt the mechanisms put in place to protect consumers? The power supply agreements with straight pricing and the ERC decision shielded ordinary electric consumers from bearing the brunt of the energy crisis. The President himself said that this decision will have an ‘extremely deleterious effect’ on power prices. We say no thanks to this gift that San Miguel has bequeathed to ordinary Filipinos in the form of higher electricity bills.”
The TRO in effect for 60 days suspends the ERC’s denial of the rate hike petition filed by subsidiary South Premier Power Corp. and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and also suspends the power supply agreement (PSA) with Meralco powered by the Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas.
The ERC ruled that the fixed-price supply deal between the two firms provided no room for adjustments. San Miguel had requested the rate hike for electricity it sells to Meralco under their PSA due to higher fuel costs caused by the war in Ukraine and other factors that had not been anticipated when the PSA was originally approved by ERC and implemented.
Leody de Guzman, chairman of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino said: “Dapat ay aginaldo ang natatanggap natin kapag Pasko pero dahil sa ginagawa ng San Miguel ay perwisyo ang matatanggap natin sa loob ng sobre ng bill ng ating kuryente (What we should be receiving are Christmas gifts but because of San Miguel, we’re getting troubles in our electricity bills).”
“If there is anything that should be looked upon with great scrutiny by any court, it is the fact that San Miguel has 33 active PSAs which have been voided back in 2019 by the Supreme Court but still remain active for some reason. How come we are turning a blind eye to corporations’ missteps and find it so easy to place the burden on ordinary people?” Arances asked.