Almendras: High time to review Epira

Business Mirror THURSDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2010 14:24

ENERGY Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said on Thursday that it is high time the government reviews the Electric Power Industry Deregulation Act (Epira) in order to attract more players in the power sector. Almendras said in a news briefing that AES Corporation agreed to push through with its $1-billion investment in the country after he apprised its executives of the new administration’s energy agenda, and its proposed amendments to the Epira, among others, during President Aquino’s recent US working trip. “We are nine years into the Epira implementation so it’s really about time that we do these changes. These companies are actually looking for signals such as that we are willing to look at the laws, look at the rules, look at the structures that we have today and adjust it to the realities that we are presently at,” he said. Malacanang said earlier that AES had planned to make the investment during the previous administration but withheld its plans due to “regulatory concerns.” He said a group under the Department of Energy (DOE)—composed of engineers, lawyers, market practitioners, finance experts–and with the assistance of the USAID and the Asian Development Bank, are “trying to study and learn from the experiences of other countries so that we can adjust our own set of rules.” --M. Gonzalez