Anakpawis, KMU slam latest Meralco rate hike, price manipulation amidst power crisis

Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglunsod today slammed anew the latest rate hike in generation charges imposed by Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) and accused the power distributor, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) of price manipulation.

In a protest at the Meralco office in Ortigas, Anakpawis and KMU said the latest power rate hike is unjust and demanded Meralco to stop collecting additional costs from electric power customers. “While we are dealing with rotating brownouts and fears of power interruption during elections, Meralco further insults us with a rate hike,” said Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglunsod.

Electricity consumers will have to pay 91.14 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) or almost P1 per kWh more this month. The added cost will be reflected in electricity consumers’ billing statements starting this month.

"Like a thief in the night, ERC and Meralco yet again imposed another rate hike while the public and consumers are dealing with the power crisis and the forthcoming national elections. This new rate hike by Meralco will be an additional burden to consumers," Maglunsod said.

Meralco is attributing the rate hike to the P1.83/kwh increase in generation fee. Meralco sought ERC’s approval to bring down by 44.46 centavos the increase in the generation charge in the March 2010 billing, from P1.8298/kWh to P1.3852/kWh. It said that with the high generation costs, it would not be able to promptly pay suppliers without recovering such costs from customers.

“Using the power supply crisis as a convenient excuse, the Lopez-owned power distributor just wants to increase power rates and rake in more income at the expense of consumers already burdened by the weekly price hikes of petroleum products,” the labor leader turned solon added.

Meralco said its excess WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) purchase brought the rate increase to 91.14 centavos/kWh in March.

The progressive solon said that the WESM has been exposed as nothing more but another instrumentality of the electricity monopolies to justify increases in power rates. "The WESM has been pathetically useless in curbing the unconscionable and greedy profiteering of the electricity monopolies."

Meanwile, KMU Secretary General Roger Soluta said that the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) ratified by the Arroyo administration in 2001 accounts for the constant rise in electricity prices. "Government privatization policy in the country's electric power industry is highly accountable for the non- stop increase in electricity rates.”

"As long as EPIRA allows the pass on of the costs and losses of distribution utilities and generation plants to the people through the ERC's alphabet soup of recovery mechanisms: GRAM, CERA, DAA and now under the Performance Based Regulation (PBR) applied to Meralco, we will continue to see these power rate increases in the future", explained Soluta.

“The continuing privatization and deregulation of electric power by the EPIRA runs counter to the interests of the Filipino people. It has only made electricity inaccessible due to ever increasing costs. Electricity costs can be controlled by reversing privatization of the power industry and scrapping of EPIRA,” the labor leader said.

The Anakpawis solon has filed for the scrapping of the EPIRA  through House Bill 3010 in Congress and continues to push for the government sequestration of Meralco.###