Casiño files solar-power bill to cut power costs in every household

Business Mirror
TUESDAY, 11 OCTOBER 2011 20:35 PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA / REPORTER


ESCALATING power rates has prompted Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna to propose a legislation that will mandate the use of solar home panels to enable Filipino households to produce the electricity they consume.


Casiño said the bill he filed would reduce electricity rates and revolutionize the power industry by putting it in the hands of the people.


House Bill 5405, or the One Million Solar Rooftops Act mandates the government to encourage the use of small solar power systems in homes and business establishments through various financing packages and fiscal incentives.


In his bill, Casiño wants the Pag-ibig, GSIS and SSS to offer soft loans for members who want to install solar power rooftops in their homes and businesses.


He added that the proposed act covers solar power systems with a capacity of 10 kilowatt (kW) and below for residential and 500 kW and below for business establishments.


Casiño said the bill will also require electricity distributors like Meralco to allow small solar power users to feed excess power into the system and get paid for it through a net-metering arrangement. “This measure will make ordinary electric consumers producers of electricity as well, thereby empowering them and opening up various options for reducing their electricity bill. It even allows the homeowner to earn extra money when he is at work and his kids are at school, since the solar power rooftop produces electricity the whole day,” Casiño said.


At the House Committee on Energy hearing, Casiño pointed out that one way to reduce electricity rates is for the government to immediately allow the installation of 200 megawatt (MW) of solar power to reduce the expensive peak power rates offered by Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).


Casiño said Meralco’s announcement last week that its generation charge will increase is enough proof of how WESM prices affect the monthly bills of consumers.


The solar-power industry already shared its findings with the government on the alarming increase of prices at WESM, particularly in the months from May to July this year, where clearing prices have been above P10 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), spiking to as much as P19/kwh in June.


Last year in the month of February and September, WESM prices reached as high as P60/kwh to a low of P35/kwh, respectively.


“On the other hand, cost of solar power is declining as global prices of panels are rapidly falling. Installing solar now is a wise investment. Solar will prepare the country for the summer months, and arrest a possible increase of peak power prices next year in WESM. If the government is serious in implementing the RE Law, it has to accelerate its permitting process, start awarding solar service contracts, and allow homeowners and commercial establishments to produce their own power needs by using their rooftops,” Casiño said.