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Saturday, November 20, 2004
Pangan: PPA (purchased power adjustment)
By Benjie Pangan
BY NOW, almost all the households in Mabalacat and Dau must have been given their November 2004 statements of account on their electric power consumption for the month of November 2004.
Definitely, almost, if not all, the household members are raging against the suddenly bloated electric bills, thanks to the PPA or the so-called purchased power adjustment cunningly and surreptitiously embedded in the statements of account.
Why, in heaven's name, should PPA be rammed down the throats of consumers?
Dear readers, you know as much as I do that passing the buck to consumers is one easy way for retailers, manufacturers, service and utility firms to unload the hike in landed costs of their products or services. They have no reason to gripe since it is the customers or consumers who bear the brunt of price increases.
he consuming public suffers anyway, so why would they care? Those greedy manipulators should never, for a moment, complain, instead, they should think of ways to return the favor to their respective consumers or customers!
Now, let us use a Pampanga Electric Cooperative (Pelco) statement of account for November 2004 as an example to illustrate how the PPA charge bloats the poor household's electric bill:
Say, the kilowatt hour used (KWH) is 153.0 for the period October 4, 2004 to November 5, 2004. The utility firm' computation goes as follows:
Energy charge 153.0 kwh x 3.4220 = P523.57
PPA 153.0 kwh x 3.3280 = 509.18
W.A.C. 153.0 x 0.1222 = 18.70
U. C. Missionary 153.0 x 0.0373 = 5.71
U. C. Environmental 153.0 x 0.0025 = 0.38
P.A.R.A. = -29.07
L.C.R.A. = - 26.48
Total = P1,001.99
Interest 15.03
Add: A surcharge of 1.5% per month shall be charged to the total amount due not paid after 8 days grace period. Computation shall commence from the date of receipt of statement of account. Whew! What do the W.A.C. and other Greek-sounding acronyms in the electric bill mean? I do not harbor any sour feelings against this beleaguered utility firm but I am only echoing the sentiments of its equally baffled consumers, note.
It is refreshing to note that there are concerned individuals who care about the issues bothering the masa or the ordinary consumers. One example is Mr. Anthony D. Dee, a prominent businessman-philanthropist. While the electric power on some of his business establishments comes from Angeles Electric Corporation, he laments the fact that the consumers of Pelco II carry the burden of hiked rates in electric power billings. He bats for prior notification from the utility firm to the consumers so that the latter may prepare for the sudden surge (pun intended) of price increases on their monthly billings. As illustrated above, shock is often the reaction of Pelco II consumers upon receipt of their statements of account. Dee says that there are other ways the electric firm can recover on increased power costs instead of sourcing these from the consumers.
Another encouraging development is the proposal of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to introduce an amendment to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001 "which will allow consumer groups to participate in the generation, supply and distribution of electric power to reduce electricity costs in the country". Sana.
(November 20, 2004 issue)
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