Senator Mark Villar is seeking to exempt electricity system loss charges from the 12 percent Value-Added Tax (VAT), arguing that consumers should not have to pay taxes on power they did not actually use. Villar filed Senate Bill No. 2392, which proposes amending Section 109 of the National...
Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima has filed two measures seeking to reduce electricity costs by prohibiting non-technical system loss charges on electric bills and exempting system loss from value-added tax (VAT). In filing House Bill No. 10677 or the "Non-Technical System...
PHILRECA Party-list Rep. Presley de Jesus has placed the onus on the Department of Energy (DOE) to end its habit of allowing generation companies to build power plants wherever they choose. This, as De Jesus cited in a recent House Committee on Energy hearing that strategic siting near existing...
APEC Party-list Rep. Sergio Dagooc has blasted the Department of Energy (DOE) as well as the power generation sector over the "insulting" misnomer that is "line rental". In a hearing of the House Committee on Energy on Wednesday, Aug. 5, Dagooc called out DOE officials and told them to revisit its...
House members sought clarification on the highly technical nature of system loss on Wednesday, Aug. 6 as the Committee on Energy held its first hearing to discuss issues and concerns surrounding the proposed abolition of system loss charges from electricity bills. Pangasinan 2nd district Rep. Mark...
The Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers of the Philippines (IIEE) is demanding a formal role in the ongoing review of the country’s landmark power legislation, arguing that a quarter-century of regulation must be updated to align with modern engineering standards while safeguarding...
Top leaders from the House of Representatives have filed a measure seeking to exempt electricity consumers from paying the 12 percent Value-Added Tax (VAT) on the much-panned system loss charges. Filed by Senior Deputy Speaker South Cotabato Cotabato 2nd district Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez and...
The Department of Energy (DOE) is planning a dedicated renewable energy (RE) auction for off-grid islands in a bid to lower consumers’ electricity bills by reducing the universal charge for missionary electrification (UCME). Energy Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said during a recent media briefing...
Consumers and lawmakers cheered the SONA pledge to scrap system loss charges as if Christmas had come early with a gift-wrapped power discount. But electricity has a wicked sense of humor: erase the line item today, and the cost may quietly return tomorrow wearing a different name. After all, no...
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday, August 2 expressed confidence that the measure seeking to remove system loss charges, as well as the value-added tax (VAT), from electricity bills would be approved before Christmas or the end of this year. “I can actually see the legislation moving...
Senator Erwin Tulfo on Thursday pushed back against Meralco 's argument that eliminating non-technical system loss charges could lead to higher operating costs that may eventually be reflected in electricity rates, saying distribution utilities should absorb ordinary business losses instead of...
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earned widespread public approval when he declared in his fifth State of the Nation Address that consumers should no longer pay the system loss charge on their electricity bills. His reasoning was straightforward. Electricity lost before it reaches homes and...
