Gatchalian pushes bill to reform procurement process for power

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian is pushing for a law that will reform and institutionalize how the country’s power distributors secure power supply agreements (PSA).

The lawmaker is seeking for the passage of Senate bill no. 1653, otherwise known as the Electricity Procurement Act of 2018 – a measure which proposes the implementation of a competitive, transparent, and uniform electricity procurement process aimed to save consumers as much as P13 billion annually in electricity charges.

Gatchalian, the chairman of the Senate energy committee and principal sponsor of the measure, said that the generation charge— which makes up about half of the costs shouldered by consumers in their monthly electricity bills—has long been the product of negotiated contracts between distribution utilities and generation companies.

“This process has given rise to allegations of sweetheart deals and raised concerns about how the prices of contracts unduly favor generation companies at the expense of the consumers,” he said.

The senator said the proposed law “will remove the veil of secrecy that has for so long covered power supply contracting — a veil that should not have been there in the first place, because it is the consumers who have been paying for every single centavo of what has been contracted.”