PCCI expresses support for renewable energy

By Ma. Elisa P. Osorio (The Philippine Star) Updated September 23, 2011 12:00 AM


MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) yesterday expressed their support for renewable energy (RE) but said the feed in tariff (FIT) is anti- poor and anti-business because it will inevitably increase the power cost.


The FIT is a subsidy given to RE developers and the government is in the process of determining how much the subsidy should be.


In an interview with reporters, PCCI president Francis Chua said the power cost in the Philippines is already three times the cost in China.


“Is there any transparency in the FIT,” questioned Chua. “It is anti-poor. The cost of incentives will be passed on to consumers.”


Chua said they will sit down with the fiscal managers to discuss the FIT issue because as businessmen, the higher power cost will put them at a disadvantage especially against players in other nations with lower power costs.


Chua said that if the government would really like to help Filipinos, it would be better to put the money in the conditional cash transfer program of the government.


The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has already said that they are against the FIT in RE because it will make power costs more expensive. He said he is against the FIT because the tradeoff is higher gas prices for millions of Filipinos.


Domingo said that only a few will benefit from the FIT because the industry is only able to produce five percent of the total market requirement. Domingo questioned the logic behind protecting producers that only have a small capacity and is unable to meet the requirements of the consumers.


“It is hard to give protection to an industry that meets only five percent of the requirement,” Domingo told reporters. “The trade off will be an increase price of gas for millions.


Domingo said that this will increase the prices of oil when oil prices are already high.


Likewise, the secretary said there are significant implications on the competitiveness of the business in the Philippines if a wrong decision regarding the tariff will be made.