By Paolo Romero (The Philippine
Star) | Updated May 2, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines – Lower price of
oil and coal led to cheaper electricity rates in the first quarter of the year,
benefitting consumers in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, a lawmaker
said yesterday.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’
Association party-list Rep. Arnel Ty said electricity generation, transmission
and distribution charges were all down in January to March causing a 15 percent
drop in the average electricity retail rate compared to the same quarter last
year decline.
Citing Philippine Statistics
Authority data, Ty said Filipino families spend an average of 4.5 percent of
their annual earnings to pay for their electricity bills.
“Considering that we have the most
expensive electricity in Asia, the drop in the average retail rate provides a
welcome relief and cost-savings to consumers,” Ty said.
He said LPGMA has been pushing for
greater competition in the local energy markets, and stronger consumer
protection against potential pricing abuses as well as unfair trade practices.
About 49 percent of the country’s
supply of electricity is still generated from power plants that use fuel oil
and coal, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).
Ty said the average retail rate
billed to Manila Electric Co. customers from January to March was P7.58 per
kilowatt-hour (kWh), down P1.31 or 14.8 percent from P8.89 per kWh in the same
period last year.
Meralco has 5.8 million residential,
commercial and industrial customers in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite and Bulacan,
and parts of Batangas, Laguna and Quezon.
Large end-users of electricity are
seen to benefit from greater open access starting June.
Ty also said he remained confident
the business sector would benefit from low-cost electricity in the months
ahead, with the full implementation of retail competition and open access.
Under circular 2015-06-0010 issued
by The Department of Energy, large consumers being served by their franchised
distribution utilities (such as Meralco) are mandated to secure their
respective electricity supply contracts directly from generating companies or
from licensed suppliers not later than June 25, 2016.
The order covers end-users with an
average demand ranging from 750 kilowatt (kW) to 999 kW.
“We expect competition among
generating companies, electricity suppliers and aggregators to intensify
because of greater open access. They will be scrambling to offer the cheapest
electricity to large consumers, and this will help put a downward pressure on
overall rates,” Ty said.
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