A former official of the Department of Energy yesterday urged President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to allow electric cooperatives to put up their own generating plants to lower the cost of electricity and avert the looming energy crisis.
Benito Ranque, former undersecretary of energy, in a telephone interview with the Daily Tribune, also proposed the suspension of the Biofuels Act of 2006 to cushion the rise in oil prices.
“The government may consider expanding the mechanics of the lifeline subsidy from P400 to P800 monthly,” he said from his company, Energea, based in Medina, Misamis Oriental.
Ranque said under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, the lifeline subsidy covers the marginalized end users whose power consumption is below the threshold level determined by the Energy Regulatory Board, which is 100 kw a month.
“The expansion of the subsidy will be temporary and the lasting solution is for the electric cooperatives to put up their own power plants and not have to depend on the supply provided by the National Power Corporation,” he said.
The suspension of the Biofuels Act, he said, may result in price decreases of P3.26 for gasoline and P1.40 for diesel, provided that Congress will enact a measure suspending the law.
The suspension of the act had also been proposed by former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to help reduce rising fuel prices, which today is triggered mainly by the continuing Russia-Ukraine war.
Ranque said, “There is no need to suspend the excise and value-added taxes to lower oil and electricity prices.”