Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) -
May 28, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate
yesterday approved on third and final reading a bill granting a 25-year
franchise to Solar Para Sa Bayan (SPSB), a firm that seeks to put up and
operate micro-grid power systems in unserved and underserved areas in the
country.
Approved with 16 affirmative votes
and one abstention was House Bill 8179, which seeks to grant a franchise to
operate to SPSB, owned by Leandro Leviste, son of Sen. Loren Legarda.
Legarda abstained from the voting.
The measure was reported out to the
plenary last week by Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public
services.
It seeks to allow the SPSB to
“construct, install, establish, operate and maintain distributable power
technologies and microgrid systems…to improve access to sustainable energy.”
The Department of Energy was tasked
to determine the unserved and underserved areas in the country where SPSB can
provide solar power.
The grant of franchise to SPSB also
does not revoke existing franchises nor result in the waiver of rights from the
franchised distribution utilities when the firm operates microgrids in unserved
and underserved areas.
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