Meralco record rate hike to fuel higher consumer prices

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said Monday that a recently-approved power hike seen as the highest on record will surely translate to higher prices because 30 to 40 percent of production costs come from electricity.

"Tataas ang cost of production, tataas din ang benta, and then tataas din ang presyo ng bilihin," ECOP president Ed Lacson said in a "24 Oras" report aired Monday evening.
 

According to its website, ECOP is an umbrella organization of different industry groups and serves as "a single voice for the entire business community on important national issues related to employment, industrial relations, labor issues and related social policies."

 

The Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday allowed the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to hike electricity rates in three tranches from December 2013 to March 2014.

 

The record power rate increase pegged at P4.16 per kilowatt hour (kWh), which includes billing components other than the generation charge which Meralco pays its power suppliers, is the highest electricity rate increase to be implemented by Meralco so far.

 

The generation charge will increase by P2 per kWh in December, P1 per kWh in February 2014 and P0.44 per kWh in March 2014.

 

Including other charges like transmission charges, taxes, and other components, the electricity rate will jump by P2.41 per kWh in December, P1.21 per kWh in February and P0.54 in March, he added.

 

This means customers consuming 200 kWh will see their December billing statement increase by P482 while those consuming 300 kWh by P723. 


 

 

President Benigno Aquino III on Monday said the government is studying the possibility of using the controversial Malampaya funds, sourced from a profitable natural gas project in Palawan, to cushion the impact of the price hike.

 

But former budget secretary Benjamin Diokno said the move may be illegal as the Supreme Court has already ruled the Malampaya fund can only be used for energy resource development projects, or those that encourage energy companies to develop new energy sources.

 

The Malampaya fund also figured in the pork barrel scandal when it was bared that at least P900 million of it, intended for agrarian reform beneficiaries, instead went to nine non-government organizations linked to alleged pork scam operator Janet Lim-Napoles. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab/JDS/ELR/HS, GMA News