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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Tulfo announces probe on power generation firms' 'greedy' practices ​

Tulfo announces probe on power generation firms' 'greedy' practices ​

Published May 3, 2023 04:45 am
Senator Raffy Tulfo deplored the sky-high charges of energy generation companies (gencos) despite the drop in prices of coal in the global price index. Compared to other countries in Asia, Philippines has one of the highest electricity costs even though the price of coal imports is all based on the Indonesian Coal Index and the New Castle Index, Tulfo said in a statement issued Wednesday, May 3. To address the issue and discuss why the abusive practice by gencos was allowed to persist for decades, Tulfo, chairman of the Senate energy committee, immediately held a virtual consultative meeting with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) last Monday, May 1.  “Kaya sobrang mahal ng kuryente sa Pilipinas ay dahil matagal na pala tayong piniprito sa sarili nating mantika ng mga gahamang energy generation company (We have been fried by rapacious energy generation. Companies),” he said. Tulfo also said that coal prices in the global market have been plummeting but the charges of generation companies remain high in the Philippines, allowing big gencos supplying electricity in the country to earn hundreds of millions, to even billions, daily. "In fact, of the reasons why many foreign investors are hesitant to set up their business in the Philippines is because of the expensive electricity cost. In turn, these foreign investors prefer to go to other countries with cheaper electricity charges, such as Malaysia and Vietnam," he said. In the consultative meeting, ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta admitted that the high charge of gencos has been a longstanding and persistent problem. Dimalanta likewise shared that ERC has already written a letter to gencos asking them to explain the basis for their sky-high charge.  She said that one of these companies claimed that they cannot divulge such information due to confidentiality, which angered Tulfo. Asked to further share ERC’s response to said genco’s refusal to cooperate, Dimalanta said they already issued a show cause order obligating the generation companies to comply but to no avail. Until now, not even a single genco complied with ERC’s order. The Senator from Isabela and Davao also asked Dimalanta if there is a need for legislation to set a limitation on the rate of returns of gencos, to which she replied that not as of the moment because ERC will be the one to solve the issue. Meanwhile, Tulfo said that DOE promised that they are ready to impose necessary sanctions to uncompliant gencos, which includes obliging the latter to give their customers a refund.  Tulfo said he would get back to ERC and DOE through a public hearing come opening of the session in Senate to finally put a stop to the abuse of gencos to Filipino consumers.



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Energy Regulatory Commission power generation companies Raffy Tulfo
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