The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) urged energy regulators to overhaul electricity billing rules and tighten caps on system losses, warning that high power tariffs continue to erode the country’s economic competitiveness and deter foreign investments.

In a set of recommendations submitted on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, the influential business group called on the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to revise how key billing components—specifically generation charges and system loss recoveries—are calculated for households and commercial enterprises.

MAP stated that establishing a reliable, competitive, and affordable power sector remains critical to accelerating broader economic growth and enhancing consumer welfare.

The proposals align with the administration’s priority to drive down power tariffs in the country, where electricity costs rank among the highest in Southeast Asia.

A central pillar of the group’s submission focuses on the reform of system loss caps. The business body insisted that the regulator must establish loss recovery limits grounded strictly in sound technical analysis, empirical data, and international benchmark standards.

Under current industry structures, utilities are allowed to pass certain costs associated with lost electricity onto end-consumers through their monthly billing statements.

MAP stressed that regulators must strictly separate unavoidable technical losses—which naturally occur during power transmission and distribution across the grid—from non-technical losses caused by power theft, administrative deficiencies, and metering inaccuracies.

Regulators should also limit cost recovery strictly to prudent and efficiently incurred operational expenses, ensuring that consumers are no longer burdened with paying for utility governance failures or operational slack.

To maintain grid stability while keeping rates manageable, MAP’s policy paper recommended performance-based regulation that enforces explicit loss-reduction targets for both private distribution utilities and rural electric cooperatives.

This framework would require independent performance audits, transparent operational reporting, and a system of financial incentives and penalties. Utilities that demonstrate persistently elevated losses should be placed under heightened regulatory oversight.

Addressing the problem of electricity theft will require coordinated enforcement between energy regulators, law enforcement agencies, local government units, and power distributors.

Distribution utilities must simultaneously upgrade internal controls, deploy advanced loss-detection technology, and improve metering accuracy to eliminate non-technical losses at the source.

Beyond supply-side reforms, MAP pressed the DOE to aggressively enforce Republic Act 11285, known as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act, across designated commercial, industrial, and transport sectors.

Mandating higher end-use efficiency across heavy consumers will moderate long-term power tariff growth while systematically reducing overall technical losses across the national grid.