A party-list group has recently questioned the increase in power rates starting next month.
Party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones of Alyansa ng mga Grupong Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Mamamayan (Agham) said the increase will go to a fund for incentives to be given to investors in renewable-energy (RE) generation facilities.
“But with this [increase], consumers will again suffer the burden of additional cost to the already high power rate,” he said.
“We heard that Transco [National Transmission Corp.] will start to collect from electric co-ops [cooperatives] and private power distributors an increase of up to P0.12 centavo from the previous P0.04 centavo per kilowatt-hour [starting next month], and this will be nationwide. This is a 200-percent increase or triple the original FiT [feed-in-tariff] allowance. Why will consumers shoulder the incentives for RE developers?” Palmones asked.
Currently, Palmones said Mindanao has been continuously suffering from brownouts and the additional charge on the consumers bills will add on to their burden.
“People from Mindanao are suffering from daily brownouts, and now they will be asked to pay an additional cost starting next month,” he said.
Palmones said he fully supports harnessing RE sources for power generation because of its benefits to the health of the people and the environment.
He, however, said there are existing RE facilities with greater outputs and which, perhaps, could be enhanced for better performance to prevent power- rate hike.
The lawmaker said the increase could have adverse effects to both households and business establishments.
“[In] this difficult times, the government must find other alternatives or means to relieve the consumers of the added expense,” he added.