Congressional commission bats for changes in EPIRA

MANILA, Philippines - The Joint Congressional Power Commission (PowerCom) on Monday punctuated the start of its inquiry into high electricity prices by pushing for amendments to Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA). Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, PowerCom co-chairman, told reporters on the sidelines of the hearing that there is a need to amend EPIRA, since the government "failed to achieve the sole purpose" of the law, namely: to ensure that prices will be at their lowest possible level. Senate Bill 2121 or the proposed amendments to the EPIRA, which has been pending in the plenary for approval on second reading, seeks, among others, to remove stranded debts — or unpaid financial obligations of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to independent power producers — from charges being passed on to consumers. In a statement distributed in Monday’s hearing, Ms. Santiago listed a number of "apparent management abuses" which PowerCom aims to tackle in succeeding public hearings, including: why the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) buys electricity from Napocor and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market also during peak demand periods when prices are high; why the Energy Regulatory Commission "has neglected its duty" to set lower caps on recoverable systems losses; and why Napocor "apparently gives preferential rates to economic zone consumers" and then passes on the cost of these discounts to consumers outside the ecozones." Besides amending EPIRA, Ms. Santiago said in the statement that Congress could "amend or repeal the Meralco franchise" should this be warranted. In the hearing, Meralco President Jesus Francisco stressed that "we have sought to optimize the overall cost of generation and transmission for our consumers" by maximizing purchases from Napocor’s low-cost programs, even before utilizing Meralco’s own independent power producers. - B. U. Allauigan, BusinessWorld