Malacanang on Thursday welcomed the Senate inquiry on the impending power rate hike.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said in a press briefing Thursday that the government is determined “to uphold and protect the citizens’ welfare and to implement our mandate under the law to prevent anti-competitive and market abuse practices.”
“In view of this, we support the current Senate inquiry into the recent power rate adjustments,” Coloma said.
The Palace official said the Senate inquiry on the impending power rate hike runs parallel to the ongoing investigation of the tri-partite committee composed of the Department of Energy (DoE), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), and the Office of Competition of the Department of Justice (DoJ).
“We hope that the Senate inquiry will also lead to concrete proposals on how existing laws can be improved so that the protection of consumer welfare will be assured,” Coloma said.
President Aquino earlier instructed Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa to study the possibility of using the Malampaya funds to subsidize the transport sector in order to cushion the impact of the power rate hike on consumers.
Meralco will be implementing its power rate hike in three tranches: P2.41 per kilowatt hour (kWh) this December; P1.21/kWh in February; and P0.53/kWh in March. The said power rate hike is said to be the highest power rate increase once implemented.
Meralco said the increase in electricity rate is due to the month-long maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya gas line and forced outage of other major power plants in Luzon. source
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