By Jess Diaz (The Philippine
Star) | Updated October 31, 2015 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Private
investors have built 60 power plants during the incumbency of President Aquino
to address growing demand for electricity, former Energy Secretary Jericho
Petilla said.
“And the President will be
inaugurating more plants before his term ends next year,” he said in a
television interview.
As energy secretary, Petilla said he
said he tried to promote competition and level the field among industry players
to bring down prices.
However, he said some “big players”
did not like what he was doing and tried to keep the cost of electricity high.
He added that the law itself is one
of the culprits behind high power prices.
“It allows cross ownership of
generation plants and distribution companies. If you have the same groups of
people owning power plants and power distributors, how can you have real
competition?” he asked.
Petilla pointed out that the law
promotes instead of discourages conflict of interest among industry players.
“You cannot avoid suspicions of
sweetheart deals between a power plant and a distribution owned by the same
investors under this set-up,” he stressed.
But even with the defects in the
law, he said there are some areas in the country that are able to bring down
electricity cost through a “competitive selection process.”
“Central Luzon is one example. It
was able to reduce the cost to P3.20 per kilowatt-hour, versus P5.20 to P6 in
Mindanao,” he said.
The former energy chief admitted to
being disappointed with Aquino’s appointment of Geronimo Sta. Ana as commission
of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), which regulates the power industry.
“I felt that Mr. Sta. Ana was
compromised because he was identified with a big industry player,” he said.
He said Sta. Ana’s appointment was
one of the reasons he quit as energy secretary.
“The President and I had a long
discussion on this. We talked about how to move forward. I told him that we
should have the right people in the ERC. You can have a wrong energy secretary
but not a wrong ERC commissioner,” he said.
He added that ERC members have a
fixed tenure and cannot be removed from office except for cause.
It is the people who will suffer from their
possible conflict of interest and their wrong decisions, he stressed.
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