Solar, boon or bane?

How should one view Lean Leviste’s Solar Para sa Bayan?

It’s really simple. One only needs to examine why it's a boon for some and a bane for others.

I thought about this when I received press statements recently calling for a review of SPSB’s franchise.

These statements came from business groups after Congress gave its green light to SPSB’s franchise. The approved bill, once signed into law would enable SPSB to set up solar microgrids in remote and unviable, unserved or underserved areas in the country.

Detrimental

In their statements, the business groups said the measure would create undue competitive edge in favor of SPSB to the detriment of other energy players.

I wonder what's the motive behind these calls?

Perhaps, they forget that the interests they represent may, in fact, be the precise reason why SPSB decided to wage a fight for cheaper electricity in the first place.

I also wonder why they did not fight the bill hard enough when deliberations in Congress were being held. It’s too late to do that now and it’s a mockery of Congressional proceedings.

I also heard that some are calling the franchise unconstitutional. But aren't all laws crafted by Congress deemed constitutional unless the Supreme Court, as final arbiter, declares otherwise?

We have yet to see if SPSB will succeed or not.

Maybe Lean has messianic delusions, or maybe he really can do it.  But to consumers in provinces served by some problematic, graft-ridden and greedy electric cooperatives, any alternative is better.

The Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission should now make sure that SPSB indeed delivers on its obligations to consumers.

Hopefully, those in remote, unviable and unserved areas will indeed benefit from solar microgrids, whether from SPSB or any other new market entrant.

In pushing for the measure, Lean cited a Pulse Asia survey which showed that 82 percent of Filipinos want new choices for electricity.

This means an estimated 20 million Filipinos do not have 24/7 electricity and have to endure regular blackouts in some areas.

SPSB has so far established microgrids in 12 towns in eight underserved provinces, benefiting over 200,000 Filipinos, all at zero cost to government.

This is in stark contrast to the billions of pesos in subsidies per year given to electric utilities.

For sure, Lean faced a lot of hurdles in Congress. To address concerns from various stakeholders, lawmakers amended the bill, effectively watering it down. Changes include limiting the scope to just one to two percent of the power market; subjecting SPSB to regulations of the DOE and the ERC.

The DOE and ERC should indeed ensure compliance.

For the business groups, SPSB is deemed a threat as it would threaten the operations of other less viable renewable energy companies.

“In other words, the grant of the franchise may defeat the President’s objective of levelling the playing field in the renewable energy sector and could prejudice power consumers,” they said.

Competition

Other players have reasons to fear of course.

In the telco industry, I am sure the existing players are also preparing for the arrival of the third telco player.

Competition is always scary, but it is really always good for consumers.

SPSB or any other player in the country should make sure that in the end, consumers really benefit and enjoy better services.

Existing renewable energy players should stop whining and step up their game instead. I wouldn’t really care if my electricity will come from the sun or from the nearest river. I just want it available all the time at reasonable cost.

Is that too much to ask?

After all, if Filipinos were totally happy with the way they are being served by their current providers, there won’t be any need for SPSB or any other new power supplier.

Rezoning in malls

There seems to be another David versus Goliath story, but this one is happening in the country's malls.

I heard that some long time tenants are complaining about the massive and ongoing rezoning happening in some shopping malls.

Mall operators are implementing the re-zoning plan – wherein tenants are relocated to another area in the mall – as part of an ongoing facelift or makeover.

Many of the re-zoning “victims” are pioneering tenants. But they said tenure does not matter to the mall owners.

While the poor tenant relocates and builds another store in the new space, their customers and employees are left hanging.

Customers who can’t wait are either poached by the competition or look elsewhere for another store which provides the same goods or services.

The targeted tenant will also have to shell out fresh money to finance their forced transfer.

But for the mall owners,  re-zoning is a “take it or leave it” policy for tenants. It is their way of serving better their mall customers.

They forget, however, that the tenant being relocated will have to contend with escalating costs since they are losing money and customers each day that they are closed.

Big tenants may be able to handle this, but not the smaller stores which are still struggling to be known and to make it big in the world of business.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales.