THURSDAY, 24 MARCH 2011 22:06 BUTCH FERNANDEZ / REPORTER
SEN. Serge Osmeña said the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC) is considering key amendments in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to “make it more efficient and more market-oriented.”
Interviewed after presiding over a JCPC hearing on Thursday, Osmeña told reporters, however, that proposals to help bring down consumers’ monthly electric bills are not likely to be adopted by the joint commission any time soon.
“There are many concrete proposals. But whether it is implementable is a different matter, [so] we have to study that. You know how long it took us to debate the EPIRA? Three years,” Osmeña said.
He confirmed that the commission is in receipt of several proposals to amend the Epira, also known as Republic Act 9136, which former President Gloria Arroyo signed on June 8, 2001. The Epira was enacted after over seven years of congressional hearings and floor debates to craft a law that was expected to bring down electric bills, improve delivery of power supply and encourage competition and efficiency in the power industry.
“There are many proposed amendments. Just with me alone, I already have about a dozen [but] I will not release them now because these might not be acceptable yet. These are just proposed amendments and we haven’t studied them,” Osmeña said.
He said it includes reorganizing the Energy Regulatory Com-mission (ERC). “Again, for more efficiency, we will require them to have a certified public accountant, with 10 years’ experience, an energy economist, three years experience, as well as ERC computerization.
Other amendments have to do with energy security, he said. Still another amendment is aimed at providing for electric cooperatives to be converted to stock corporations “so that it would be for profit.”
“You know when the people from the private sector come in, they will be spending. Look at the case of the National Grid Corp. They want to make a return on their money. And they would want their plants to be more efficient. If it’s the government, they would not spend for efficiency. Many plants have been sold by PSALM, [with] dependable capacity of 8 MW. [Then, with just some remediation, these plants can be transformed into] 100 MW. Those are the type of efficiencies that we can expect to implement,” Osmena added.
“We want capital. Many electric coops don’t have capital, they borrow through NEA [National Electrification Administration]. And then NEA borrows from ADB, from World Bank. Then NEA will on-lend, and then they service the loan.
But you cannot have a business where it’s all loans,” the senator said.
He explained that the essence of his proposed amendments is to make the electricity industry more efficient, a move that is seen to reduce systems losses, the cost of which is passed on by power generators and distributors to their customers.
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