Electricity rate hike due to renewable energy ‘unacceptable’

Sunstar Network

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

MANILA -- A party-list lawmaker on Wednesday chided the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for trying to condition the public that higher electricity rates are inevitable with the entry of more renewable energy sources into the country's power mix.

In Tuesday's briefing before the House Committee on Energy, ERC executive director Francis Juan said that the entry of renewable energy investors into the power industry would surely raise electricity rates as renewable energy is much more expensive than conventional power generated from crude oil, coal, water, and natural gas.

The ERC’s initial computations revealed that electricity produced from ocean waves would cost P17.65 per kwh; from sunlight, P17.95; and from wind, P10.37.

ERC is set to deliberate a feed-in-tariff system that would charge the higher cost of renewable energy across all consumers.

“Considering that the country already has the second highest electricity rates in Asia, next only to Singapore, any increase in rates would be unacceptable. If the development of renewable energy really entails higher rates, government should first work to reduce current prices which are already way too high for ordinary consumers," he said. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)