BAYAN Muna representative lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate on Sunday hit the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for allowing another power rate hike on top of the approved rate increase due to the Malampaya shutdown.
Zarate, in a statement e-mailed to media outlets, said a P0.19 rate was added due to the stranded cost owed by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM), adding that this is another burden to consumers.
"Nakakarami na talaga ang ERC sa pinapasang dagdag singil sa kuryente. Sa ngayon, dapat ay simulan na ng Kongreso ang pag-iimbestiga sa House Resolution 419 upang makita at maungkat ang mga samu’t saring mga ipinapasang mga gastos at singil ng PSALM sa mga konsyumante," (ERC has already passed on additional electricity rates for the nth time. Congress should now start investigating House Resolution 419 to disclose the various passed on rates that PSALM has charged to consumers) Zarate said.
He also said that there may be further spikes in the prices of electricity in the coming months.
He cited among the factors that contribute to the hike are the increase in the interim maximum allowable revenue (Imar) of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) from P41.653 billion to P43.789 billion that already resulted to P0.15 per kWh increase in February billings.
Another is PSALM's pending applications for universal charges on its stranded debts and stranded contract costs and the people must guard and oppose these unwarranted power rate hikes.
"There is really something fishy about these increases being floated recently," Zarate said.
Zarate said this is the main reason, among others, why they wanted to review, via House Resolution 419, the PSALM passed-on charges and through House Resolution 566, on the alleged "midnight" Power Supply Agreements (PSA).
"We cannot just take their data at face value considering what happened during the 2013 Malampaya shutdown," Zarate said. (ICT)