Energy commission should recall FIT-All approval

IN a move that could not have possibly been worse in its timing, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) last week approved a P0.0733 per kilowatt-hour increase in the Feed-In Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) for renewable energy development.

Coming as it does amid public grumbling over rising prices of basic goods, warnings from local petroleum companies of further fuel price increases, and acknowledgement from the government that world oil prices are very near the $80 per barrel threshold that would automatically trigger a suspension of the collection of fuel excise taxes, the ERC’s decision smacks of gross insensitivity to consumer concerns. It unfortunately only reinforces the reputation of being an agent for energy companies that has dogged the ERC for years, and has provoked criticism of bad management because the decision was actually made in February and only now docketed.