SENATOR Francis Pangilinan has filed a bill seeking to remove system loss charges from household electricity bills, saying the move could cut consumers’ total electricity costs by five percent to 10 percent.
“Hindi dapat consumer ang sumasalo (Consumers must not bear the burden),” Pangilinan said in a statement on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026.
Senate Bill 2378, or the proposed Systems Loss Charge Removal Act, filed Aug. 5, seeks to amend the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001 and stop households from paying for electricity lost in distribution systems that they neither caused nor consumed.
System loss charges allow distribution utilities to recover the cost of electricity lost between delivery to their
networks and the amount ultimately billed to consumers.
Pangilinan said the measure would provide relief to families facing rising costs of food, education, healthcare and transportation, with even a few hundred pesos in savings helping cover basic needs.
The proposal follows President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call in his recent State of the Nation Address for Epira amendments to remove system loss charges and the value-added tax imposed on them.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian and Senator JV Ejercito have also filed measures seeking to remove system loss charges and VAT. Pangilinan earlier filed a bill seeking VAT exemption on system loss charges for residential consumers. / PNA
