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PROBE MERALCO ON RATES – GWEN PIMENTELNacionalista Party senatorial candidate Gwen Pimentel said today the government should impose stricter regulations on electric power distributors in order to protect the public against predatory pricing.
Gwen Pimentel issued the statement following numerous complaints from the public against what they considered the sudden and unjust increase in the billings by the Manila Electric Company in its franchise area composed of Metro Manila and surrounding provinces.
Gwen Pimentel declared that Congress should revisit the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 in order to strengthen the authority of the Energy Regulatory Commission in supervising and regulating electric power players to further protect the public interest.
According to Gwen Pimentel, if elected to the Senate, she would immediately call for an investigation into the reason for the sudden increase in the price of electricity imposed by the Meralco and other distributors.
“As far as I know, despite the hullabaloo about the effects of El Niño, the present summer is not as harsh as in previous summers, so that the so-called power generation crisis may have been hyped or exaggerated to justify sudden increases in the cost of electricity,” Gwen Pimentel said.
“The rains have already started to come, so there can be no real reason that a prolonged draught is the cause of the increase in the cost of power generation,” said Gwen Pimentel.
“The public must know the real reason for such increases, and through Congress, determine the reasonableness and justification for such increases,” Gwen Pimentel declared. “We cannot just let the electric distributors, as well as the power suppliers, determine the prices of electricity without justifiable cause as it is essential to the livelihood of our people and to the national economy,” she stated.
Gwen Pimentel said that it is the stated policy of the State under the EPIRA law to “ensure transparent and reasonable prices of electricity in a regime of free and fair competition and full public accountability to achieve greater operational and economic efficiency and enhance the competitiveness of Philippine products in the global market.”
According to Gwen Pimentel, it is the duty of the Energy Regulatory Commission to implement the policies and intent of the EPIRA law. “But apparently, insofar as the public is concerned, the ERC is either negligent or incompetent in pursuing or implementing the full intentions of the law,” she declared.
“That is the duty of Congress to find out if the law is being implemented properly or whether there is a need for amending the law in order to strengthen the provisions that protect the national interest and promote the national economy,” Gwen Pimentel stressed.
Gwen Pimentel said that if elected to the Senate she would press for a Senate investigation into the reasonableness of the cost of electricity. Top |