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Around 100 representatives from civil society groups called for a
bevy of reforms in the power sector, including the suspension of the
expanded value-added tax (VAT) and other imposts on oil products, to
bring down the cost of electric power in the country.
In a forum organized in Quezon City by the
Freedom from Debt Coalition, Maitet Diokno-Pascual, the economist
and former chairperson of the organization, said the power sector is
highly concentrated in the hands of a few service providers,
virtually creating monopolies.
She added the sector is highly inefficient and
highly skewed in favor of those involved in providing services in
the sector.
The government is actually earning a windfall
from rising crude oil prices and the falling value of peso vs. the
dollar. More than half of VAT from Meralco customers is paid by
those consuming from 100 to 400 kilowatt-hours a month, said
Diokno-Pascual.
However, she cautioned that providing additional
subsidy to lifeline rate consumers does not ease the burden on the
actual VAT payers, and does not make electricity cheaper for
industry. “Subsidies are not sustainable, not even politically,”
she warned.
The Electric Power Industry Reform Act has not
changed the basic nature of the power industry, but has in fact led
to greater concentration of power among a few players, while
providing plenty of room to favor sister companies and industrial
partners.
Participants also called for a stop to the
wholesale electricity spot market that they feel have even added to
power costs, since it is based on the power players’ purchase
bidding during peak hours. In its stead, they called for an
independent Energy Regulatory Commission to regulate the market, and
for a review of rates being demanded by the National Power Corp. and
electric cooperatives.
Power utilities should not be allowed to pass on
systems losses to consumers caused from mismanagement and failures
to plug losses.
Power costs could also be brought down by the
removal of royalties on renewable energy to encourage investments in
this area.
Diokno-Pascual also called for the creation of
community-based power systems to stop monopoly control of the
country’s power delivery system by big power producers, and to
localize any potential problem that can arise in the sector.
Luis Manuel Corral, a cooperative development
specialist, said the government should immediately conduct a
technical audit of all independent power producers to determine if
they are really providing genuine services to the public based on
their respective contracts.
Dr. Roger Birosel, a geneticist with the
Alliance for Consumer Empowerment, said that the government should
stop its policy of interim open access in the Luzon and Visayas
grids, since this allow big power players to kill small players like
electric cooperatives.
-- Nora O. Gamolo
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