Power producers reject plans to amend EPIRA

MANILA, Philippines - Members of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (PIPPA) on Monday rejected the plans to amend the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). The opposition was contained in a position paper submitted before the Senate Committee on Energy. In their position paper, PIPPA president Ernesto Pantangco stressed that amending the EPIRA law is not the solution to bring down electricity cost in the country. “In order that the prices of electricity will be at reasonable levels, there should be competition in the market, both on the supply side wherein generation companies and suppliers will compete against each other in a fair and transparent market and on the demand side where electricity consumers are empowered to choose their suppliers according to their needs," Pantangco said. Insisting that the EPIRA law has all the necessary measures, he said that what needs to be done is to “implement Section 35 of the EPIRA itself, which mandates the reduction of royalties, returns and taxes collected by the government in connection with the exploitation of indigenous energy resources. Another way is to subject the sale of electricity to VAT zero-rating." PIPPA has twenty-five members and operating a total installed capacity of 9,572 megawatts (MW) in power plant capacity, 5,837 MW of which are controlled by the National Power Corporation (Napocor) under Build-Operate-Transfer schemes and the remaining are directly contracted with distribution utilities. According to PIPPA, the sustainable way to achieve reasonable prices of electricity over the medium term is to foster and enhance the competitive structure of the electricity industry. “What the industry needs is not a palliative temporary solution but one that will remain effective despite changes in prevailing economic and political conditions," Pantangco said. - GMANews.TV