Wish list for EPIRA amendments bared

MANILA, Philippines — The removal of franchise renewal and the ability to generate power on its own form part of the wish list of the association of electric cooperatives (ECs) operating nationwide with the upcoming amendments to Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).

“The causes of the rate increases are clear, and we are all aware of them. But we cannot easily change the law and the immediate situation where we are in,” the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. (Philreca) said.

“The good thing is that because of what is happening right now, our policymakers are now engaging in discussions and are bent on reviewing the EPIRA for it to become more responsive to the plight of the people,” it said.

The amendments to the EPIRA is among those being pushed by the Marcos administration.

Among the issues and concerns that Philreca is suggesting the country’s policymakers look into when the EPIRA is revised or replaced is the introduction of a provision allowing the ECs to generate power either on their own or through a joint-venture with interested corporations.

Philreca said the ECs, being the government’s arm in energizing rural areas at the least cost, should also be freed from a  burdensome requirement and processes of renewing their franchises.

It also said that a provision allowing the government, both the local government unit and national, to generate power must be reintroduced and not leave the matter only to the private sector.

“A true competition may be achieved only with the presence in the market of a price neutralizing factor, the government,” Philreca said.

“Although we have Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to supposedly do this role, it is only disheartening to note that the private distributions are preferred by this instrumentality in volume allocation than the ECs, which are supposedly the government’s partner in rural electrification,” it said.

Philreca said power generation must be regulated, noting that a continued deregulated generation sector will only result in “imbalance in the power industry, the opportunities of each to bring down the electricity cost being impeded.”

“One must bear in mind that the power distributed by the DUs carries the same cost offered by the generator, it being a pass-thru cost plus the VAT,” it said.

In addition, Philreca said taxes imposed on ECs being non-stock, non-profit organizations “should be limited only on undertakings or services generated outside of its members, neither there shall be imposed income taxes, there being no revenues generated from the members it served.”

The group has likewise called for the increase in the technical personnel of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in order to cope with the task of reviewing the various applications and other matters under the commission’s consideration.

“It is observed that resolutions of applications and the like takes several years to resolve resulting in the ECs suspension of much needed services due to lack of approval from the commission,” Philreca said.