Both global prices of oil and coal are at record highs, with oil reaching $135 a barrel last week and coal hitting $116 a ton in February.

Because we import most of our oil and coal needs (99 percent for oil, 80 percent for coal), the Philippines is very vulnerable to oil and coal-price hikes in the global market.

In a study by Eshita Gupta of The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), the Philippines ranks as most vulnerable to global oil prices out of 26 net oil-importing countries.

Together, oil and coal are used to generate almost half (49 percent) of the total electricity generated in the country, and are among the main reasons for the steep electricity price we experience today.

For instance, electricity in Luzon is more expensive than in Visayas and Mindanao because of its heavy dependence on coal. Generation charge in the Mindanao grid, which relies on hydropower for 60 percent of its electricity needs, is lower by P1.6359/kilowatt-hour (kWh) than in Luzon’s.

The logical solution would be to switch to renewable sources of energy, and the Philippines has a huge, but largely untapped, potential. Our potential for wind power alone can meet our current demand of 10,000 megawatts seven times over.

The renewable-energy bill, which we’re sponsoring in the Senate, once passed, could ensure sustainable energy insulated from the volatility of coal and oil prices by encouraging companies and households alike to invest in renewable energy. The bill offers benefits and incentives to entities and stakeholders engaged in its manufacture, distribution and use.

It also provides an investment environment conducive for developers of renewable-energy technologies.

Through this bill, a decentralized, area-based and integrated energy program for the promotion, production, commercialization and utilization of renewable-energy systems shall be developed and institutionalized.

Making renewable energy as our main source of power, however, takes time and investment. In the short term, we’ve got to find ways to make electricity cheaper and the energy sector more efficient and competition-driven, setting the stage for the renewable-energy market to thrive.

In the Senate, proposed amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) could lower electricity rates by P0.40 per kWh by removing extraneous pass-on charges such as stranded costs and franchise taxes imposed by local government units.

For an average household with a consumption base of 100 kWh to 130 kWh, this means P40 to P52 less in its electricity bill. 

Besides this, the requirements for open access have been relaxed. The Energy Regulatory Commission may declare open access provided that generation participants comply with the ownership limitations of the law.

Because open access could lower the distribution and transmission charges and generation rate, this will result in lower electricity rate. To illustrate, the Asian Institute for Management calculates that promoting open access, coupled with removing franchise tax, could save an economic zone P1 to P1.30 per kWh.  

E-mail: edgardo_angara@hotmail.com. Web site: www.edangara.com.

NO one, till now, has quite any clear idea of where this latest floater by the administration, i.e., that telcos be compelled to provide free-texting services, is coming from, or what it really aims to achieve with it. But perhaps it can find the time—and humility—to listen to the sensible views of an expert, Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, who on Monday declared that “this is simply not workable.”

Mark the day after tomorrow on your calendar. First-quarter economic data for the Philippines will be released on Thursday.

The first-quarter numbers are important as several factors affect the results for these three months.

Today is the day the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will hold its annual stockholders’ meeting, but it will be one unlike any other it has ever held in the past.

Mirror on the wall: Stock mart jittery over Garcia’s threat to take over Meralco

It looks like there’s no stopping Winston Garcia, president and general manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), from his quest for control of management and ownership of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

Sen. Edgardo J. Angara: Lowering the cost of electricity

Both global prices of oil and coal are at record highs, with oil reaching $135 a barrel last week and coal hitting $116 a ton in February.

Andy Mukherjee: Rice-price surge is defying Asia’s ingenuity

The intolerable surge in rice prices presents Asia with a rather unpleasant dilemma.

Rough rice prices have doubled in the past year on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Aquilino Pimentel Jr.: From firebrand to torchbearer: A tribute to ‘Ka’ Bel

As a young man growing up in Cagayan de Oro in the ’50s and the ’60s, I hardly knew Crispin Beltran. I did read of him now and then in a Manila daily that we got in Cagayan de Oro, which, at the time, was at least three hours by propeller planes and at least three days by boat from Manila.