Manila, Philippines — The House of Representatives will approve measures seeking to amend the 13-year-old Electricity Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) before the 16th Congress ends.
Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. assured that the Lower Chamber would be able to pass amendments to the EPIRA, which was blamed for the high power rates in the country.
“This Congress, I’d say, yes, the amendments to the EPIRA will be passed in the House,” he said in an interview.
The Speaker said the time is ripe for Congress to review the EPIRA to protect and safeguard the interest and welfare of the consumers.
He threw his support to the proposal filed by Eastern Samar Rep. Ben P. Evardone seeking to amend the EPIRA.
The proposal seeks to prohibit cross ownership on distribution and generation companies to prevent possible collusion that supposedly fired up rising power cost in the country.
He said there is a need to amend the EPIRA to “prevent the cross-ownership of the generation, transmission and distribution sectors.”
AKO Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe agreed with Belmonte, saying it’s about time to revisit and amend the EPIRA.
“EPIRA was enacted to instill competition and level the playing field to get the best deal for our consumers. As it is, more than a decade after its enactment, our power woes are getting worse and players in the power sector are limited to an elite few with accusations of collusion and cartelization of the industry. Definitely, we need to plug the loopholes and redirect EPIRA to the original intention of its framers,” he said.
The House committee on energy, chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali vowed to jumpstart the discussions on proposals amending the law next month.
Umali believes that Congress needs to “tweak” and not necessarily repeal the EPIRA as being pushed by the Makabayan bloc.
The Umali panel remains committed to continue its probe into the Manila Electric Company’s imposition of the P4.15-per-kilowatt-hour rate increase as the House starts to buckle down to work today, January 20. source
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