MACTAN — President Benigno Aquino III on Friday questioned the increase in the power charges approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission for the Visayas, saying he wanted to know if it was fair.
He said the commission should review the 60.6-centavo increase per kilowatt hour in the region.
State of the electronics industry. President Aquino (inset) addresses a meeting in Lapulapu City of the leaders of the electronics and semiconductors industry. The industry accounted for more than $24 billion worth of exports last year and provided employment to 530,000 people.
“We are focused on the Visayas. We are not sure if the rate increases are warranted,” the President said in an open forum with key stakeholders of the electronics industry during the 17th World Electronics Forum here.
Mr. Aquino made the statement even as Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Friday repeated his opposition to the privatization of the government’s power plants in Mindanao, saying that might lead to the formation of a cartel that could control the price of electricity on the island.
Mr. Aquino said the Executive and Congress will make representations with the Energy Regulatory Commission to review the rate adjustments.
He said he was “not happy” with the progress of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, which should have spurred competition and brought down power rates.
“We are trying to accelerate the process where the benefits of the EPIRA law can be realized at the soonest possible time,” Mr. Aquino said.
“I am not happy with the pace.”
The commission also approved increases in the generation charges of 69.04 centavos per kilowatt hour in Luzon and 4.42 centavos per kilowatt hour in Mindanao. The rates were P5.0160 a kilowatt hour in Luzon, P4.0740 in the Visayas, and P2.9321 in Mindanao before those were adjusted.
The commission said the rate increases covered the applications filed by the National Power Corp. and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. under the generation rate-adjustment mechanism.
That mechanism allows utilities to recover costs associated with fuel and purchased power and the changes in the peso’s exchange rate against the dollar. With John Anthony Concepcion
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