Power hike protest set for January 21 SC oral arguments

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Groups opposing the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) proposed power rate hike announced on Sunday that they will hold a protest on January 21, coinciding with the Supreme Court’s (SC) oral arguments on the issue.

“Meralco continues to terrorize consumers with threats of power interruptions if higher rates are not implemented. Meralco thinks it is above the law,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said in a statement.

The group is protesting Meralco’s threats of power interruption due to SC’s 60-day Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the rate increase. The distribution utility claimed it cannot pay its generation charges because of the TRO.

“Consumers should fight back. We call on the people to protest on January 21, the day of the SC oral arguments. Let’s fill up Padre Faura and show consumer outrage against Meralco, the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act) and the do-nothing Aquino government,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes, Jr. said.

Bayan called on consumers “fed up with Meralco” to occupy Padre Faura Street in Manila starting at 8 a.m. on January 21.

The group asserted that there should be major changes in the energy sector, especially with “private generation companies [seeking] to profit through questionable supply contracts and unscrupulous trading practices in the spot market.”

Reyes said a change in policy and not emergency powers are needed to address the high power rates and other energy woes in the country.

Lawmakers earlier suggested that President Benigno Aquino III be granted emergency powers to better control the power generation sector, allowing him to fast-track the construction of more power plants.

However, Reyes argued, “Emergency powers can be used to enter into onerous contracts with power generators which will only saddle us with more debts, as was the experience with the Ramos administration. What we need is the junking of the EPIRA and the reversal of the privatization and deregulation of the power sector.”

In December last year, Meralco said it will have to increase its power rate by P4.15 per kilowatt hour after it was forced to augment its energy supplies through the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and liquid fuel-powered plants, following the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas plant. It was later discovered that several power plants also shutdown simultaneously, further aggravating the situation.

Bayan said the privatization and deregulation of the power industry under the EPIRA caused power rates to increase, contrary to the law’s objective.

“A study done by Bayan, Agham and Ibon Foundation in 2011, or 10 years after the EPIRA was implemented, observed that power rates have doubled since EPIRA was implemented. Meralco rates have increased by more than 112 percent while Napocor (National Power Corporation) rates have jumped by more than 95 percent in the past 10 years,” Reyes said.