EPIRA consultations set

Business Mirror

Posted on January 27, 2014 11:39:05 PM

THE ENERGY department has set nationwide consultations that could lead to a review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), blamed by critics as deficient in protecting consumers.

Focus group discussions (FGDs), the department said in a statement, will be held “to gather sufficient inputs from all stakeholders... regarding Republic Act 9136, which was passed in 2001.

“We are encouraging concerned individuals and groups to attend. Your presence will provide us with the necessary perspectives for the effective implementation of or essential changes in the EPIRA,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla was quoted as saying.

“The objective of these FGDs is to get the views and recommendations on how to enhance energy supply security at a reasonable cost,” he added.

The first consultation will be held this Wednesday starting nine in the morning at The Legend Villas in Mandaluyong City. Consumer groups, non-government organizations (NGOs), the academe, organized labor and business groups based in Luzon were invited to participate.

In the Visayas, two FGDs will be held on Feb. 6 at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel. A 9:00 a.m. session will be for power generators and distribution utilities, followed by another at 1:00 p.m. for consumer groups, NGOs, labor and the academe. The business sector will have their FGD at 9:00 a.m. the following day.

The FGDs for Mindanao will also be held on Feb. 6 and 7 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City on Feb. 6. The 9:00 a.m. session will be for business groups and the afternoon for consumers groups, NGOs, labor and the academe. Power firms will be consulted the following day at 9:00 a.m.

A consultative dialogue on Feb. 12 will seek to collate the results of all FGDs.

The move to revise the law came after Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) last December announced a record-high P4.15-per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) rate hike.

Both Meralco and regulators have said the adjustment was allowed by law. Party-list legislators and consumer groups, however, claimed the automatic adjustments violated constitutional rights and subsequently secured a 60-day restraining order from the Supreme Court.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld. -- C. A. M. C. Feliciano   source