Amid drop in coal prices 

SENATOR Raffy Tulfo deplored the “sky-high” and soaring generation charge of energy generation companies (gencos) despite the drop in prices of coal in the global price index.

It can be noted that compared to other countries in Asia, the 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.

To address the issue and discuss why the “abusive practice” by gencos was allowed to persist for decades already, Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Energy, 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,” he said.

Notably, coal prices in the global market have been plummeting, according to Tulfo, 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 the said 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 had 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 on uncompliant gencos, which includes obliging the latter to give their customers a refund.

Tulfo said he will get back to ERC and DOE through a public hearing come the opening of the session in the Senate to finally “put a stop to the abuse of gencos to Filipino consumers.”