By Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza - March 1,
2019
Although I had already expressed earlier my apprehensions on
the ill effects of granting Solar Para sa Bayan (SPSB) a congressional
franchise to operate and provide supposedly cheap renewable electricity to
communities unserved or underserved by other power companies, my
aversions were strengthened upon hearing the concerns of the other power
industry stakeholders and Senate Committee on Energy Chairman Senator Sherwin
Gatchalian himself during the last Senate hearing on the SPSB franchise.
Like Gatchalian’s regulatory
concerns over the SPSB franchise, this being a new kind of technology and there
being existing electric cooperatives and other private power distributors
already, serving their respective power franchise areas, granting SPSB a
congressional franchise would not only lead to industry chaos, but it could
also result in the creation of a monopolistic and/or oligopolistic power
industry in the country.
The SPSB franchise would practically
go against the government’s thrust to encourage competition in the Philippine
market, the very reason why the Philippine Competition Commission was
established.
While the services of other existing
power distributors are confined only to their respective franchise areas, the
SPSB franchise, as approved earlier by the House of Representatives, allows the
company to operate and provide renewable electricity to areas deemed to have
inadequate electricity anywhere in the country.
Like a blanket franchise, it
practically makes the franchise of existing power distributors inutile and
discourage industry growth. Moreover, it also runs in conflict with the
Electricity Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) where cross ownership is not
allowed, if only to prevent monopolistic and/or oligopolistic control of the
industry by several companies owned by a common interest group.
This is the reason why, under the
EPIRA law, the power industry was unbundled. Power generation, transmission and
distribution were unbound and cross ownership among the three unbundled sectors
is not allowed. And yet, the SPSB franchise allows the company to go into
generation, supply and distribution.
From the looks of it, the SPSB
franchise could easily be a super franchise. Encompassing existing power
franchises, the SPSB franchise could just as well be called a “Solo” Para sa
Bayan. After all, if passed into law, this could, perhaps, be for the record,
if not the history books.
And who would have thought that the
Philippines do not have a superhero. But there is one thing certain in the SPSB
franchise, if it hurdles the scrutiny of our senators, the Philippines will
have a super franchisee.
During the Senate hearing I was
fortunate to have been allowed to raise a question to the representative of
SPSB.
“Mr. Leviste, mayroon bang hadlang
sa pagpasok niyo sa negosyong kuryente ngayon?” I politely asked the Solar Para
sa Bayan president, Mr. Leandro Leviste. I never got an answer.
The reason why I asked the question
was because I know that SPSB is already operating in some areas in the country.
And if they don’t have problems in areas they already serve, why should SPSB
ask for a super franchise?
Is it not because, with the super
franchise, SPSB would have undue advantage over the competition? And more
importantly, will it not ease out existing power distributors?
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