Senator Raffy Tulfo yesterday slammed the continuous hike in charges by the energy generation companies despite the drop in coal prices in the global price index.
Tulfo lamented the “abusive” practices of the power generation companies after a virtual consultative meeting with the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy on 1 May.
Compared to other Asian countries, he said the Philippines has one of the highest electricity costs even though the price of all coal imports is based on the Indonesian Coal Index and the New Castle Index.
“We are paying high electricity prices here in the Philippines because we are fried by greedy energy generation companies,” he told reporters.
He said coal prices in the global market have been “plummeting but the charges of generation companies remain high” in the Philippines.
This, he said, allows the big generation companies to earn “more millions or even billions.”
“In fact, one of the reasons many foreign investors are hesitant to set up businesses in the Philippines is the expensive electricity cost. In turn, these foreign investors prefer to go to other countries with cheaper electricity charges, such as Malaysia and Vietnam,” Tulfo noted.
During the meeting, ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta admitted that the high charges of generation companies have been “a longstanding and persistent” problem.
She added that the ERC had written letters to the generation companies asking them to explain the basis for their “sky-high charges.”
She said one of these companies told her they could not divulge such information due to confidentiality, which angered Tulfo.
The refusal by the companies to cooperate prompted the ERC to issue show-cause orders “obligating the generation companies to comply, to no avail,” Dimalanta said.
Not a single generation company has complied with the ERC order, she said.
Tulfo asked Dimalanta if there was a need for legislation to set limits on the rates of return of generation companies.
“Not at the moment because the ERC will be the one to solve the issue,” she replied.
Meanwhile, the DoE vowed to impose the necessary sanctions on “uncooperative” power generation companies, including the obligation to implement a refund system for customers.
Tulfo said he will get back to the ERC and DoE in a public hearing once the Senate session resumes “to finally put a stop to the abuse” of the generation companies.