Philippines has highest electricity rates in Asia: Study

[absinthe_888]

^^ The EPIRA law is a dismal failure.

Electricity rates in our country are so insane. This is one major problem kaya hirap tayo makakuha ng investors aside from the usual problem of Pinoy policies.

[albertus magnus]

Actually we can't always blame the not operating of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant but yes it still has something to do with oligarchs. Almost all of them have Power Plants all over the country and they supply it. They can easily say that their production output is only that less therefore the need for prices to go up. If we could only allow foreigners to have control of Power Plants in this country or let them build it and let them operate it, The Lopez's and Aboitiz's clan might cry out foul.

Since we have that 60/40 rule in our constitution and the Government or should I say this administration does not plan on building a new power plant we are all out of luck. Let's just say there is that 60/40 company where foreigners are the latter, who do you think are their local partners? The magical oligarchs!!! So we really don't have much of a choice. Even if we want to somehow change part of our Constitution, the ones the people vote for are actually the so called protectors of these oligarchs!! What to do? I really don't have an honest answer or even a nice answer for that. One day when things would be getting at their worst point one crazy group or individual might do some stupid thing such as kidnapping. The victims... Maybe the heirs of these Oligarchs. I wish and hope for that thing not to happen. Let us search for legal remedies to put these oligarchs down.

Oh how I wish foreign competition will make all those local oligarchs bow into submission.

But how do you think power oligarchs from other countries will be that different from the local oligarchs like Salim group's MVP of Meralco? Power sector is one of those public utility services which are virtual monopolies, where competition to drive the price lower is virtually not possible, and we the consumers and even the regulators like the ERC are captived audience to these power players both local and foreign. All because of the EPIRA law that legalizes those that make that California's ENRON scam possible into the National level, wherein the power speculators of the WESM casino will only drive the prices of electricity even higher and not lower.

Yes, we can blame the Cory admin for the non-operational of the Bataan Nuclear along with the abolishing of the Department of Energy and scrapping of other Marcos' energy projects. With the resulting rolling black outs because of those, the globalists' man, FVR was forced into submission in signing those onerous and lopsided IPP contracts of those greedy foreign power consortium, with the sovereign guarantees and take or pay provisions, which caused the Napocor's bankruptcy from all those stranded debts, the real reason for those higher generation costs, forcing the ADB lobied EPIRA law to be signed into law mandating the selling of all those juicy income generating powers assets like the hydros and the geothermals just to pay for those onerous debts. And surprisingly 90% of those assets are now at the hands of those private investors, and yet that didn't make a dent on those Napocor losses. Now, we have the distinction of having the highest electricity rates in Asia. Now, you are saying about the Bataan Nuclear?

All private enterprises whether that be local or foreign, will alway have profit maximization in their mind. How much more in the power sector.

[victoryliner]

Delays in Mindanao power projects happen at LGU level, says DOE
July 3, 2012 9:41pm


The lack of facilitation support from local government units (LGU) have caused delays in proposed power generation projects in Mindanao, the Department of Energy revealed in a statement Tuesday.

The long approval process in local government offices may have lead to a delay in power generation projects, energy secretary Rene Almendras told participants in a two-day Top Level Policy Roundtable Discussion in Manila.

The roundtable between private sector and government representatives delved into issues of energy, mining, agriculture, and transport and logistics in Mindanao.

Almendras, however, emphasized there is no lack of power investment in the island region, adding that there are currently 58 service contracts awaiting LGU action.

“We are, as a matter of fact, receiving several power project proposals for Mindanao and are fast tracking the approval of these,” Almendras said in the statement.

“However, the implementation of these projects is impeded once it reaches the local level. This needs to be addressed first,” the Energy secretary noted.

But Mindanao Development Authority chair Luwalhati Antonino is optimistic that local units would be more involved in achieving energy sustainability in the region.

Antonino asked energy players in government to maintain transparency in Mindanao’s power demand and supply situation, as well as on financial figures of the region’s Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

State-run PSALM is mandated by the Electric Power Reform Industry Act to privatize the National Power Corporation or Napocor.

“A lot of doubts in Mindanao have risen, because we are not given enough information by our energy bureaucracy,” Antonino noted. — MJC/VS, GMA News

source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...level-says-doe

[albertus magnus]

Killing us
http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com/20...illing-us.html

[victoryliner]

Power rate hikes, pinapaimbestigahan sa Kamara
July 13, 2012 6:48pm

Isang resolusyon ang inihain sa Kamara de Representantes para hilingin sa House Committee on Energy na imbestigahan ang pagtaas ng singil sa kuryente.

Ayon kay Manila Rep. Ma. Theresa Bonoan-David, apat na kumpanya ang naghain ng petisyon sa Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) para sa power rate adjustment, na tiyak na ipapasa rin umano sa mga konsumer.

Ang mga naghain umano ng petisyon para electricity rate adjustments ay ang Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), National Power Corporation (NPC), Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) and National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

“A House inquiry on impending series of power cost hikes should be conducted to ensure a reliable and secure supply of electric power at reasonable and affordable rates," apaliwanag niya.

Bukod sa magiging dagdag na pahirap sa mga karaniwang tao ang pagtaas sa singil sa kuryente, magkakaroon din umano ng epekto sa negosyo ang anumang power rate increase.

“The cost of power is a significant factor in the number and amount of investments that a country is able to attract. These investments help create opportunities that generate the much-needed jobs to spur economic development," paliwanag niya.

Puna ni Bonoan-David, hindi nakakamit ng ipinasang Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, ang tunay na layunin nito na maibaba ang presyo ng kuryente sa bansa.

Sa ngayon, ang singil ng kuryente sa Pilipinas ang isa sa pinakamahal sa buong mundo na umaabot sa P11 per kilowatt-hour. -- RP/FRJ, GMA News

source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...ahan-sa-kamara

[manhattanstaton]

Umalis or aalis na rin ang planta ng Ford Motors sa Pinas. Ay sus maria, sa mahal ba naman ng kuryente ng Mang Juan. Next time pati pambili ng dede ni baby, per sachet na lang para makabayad ng kuryente.

[albertus magnus]

http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-w...loods-and.html


August scourge: Floods and...
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
8/10/2012

A headline just three days ago ("Meralco rates to rise in August") carried dominant power firm Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)'s announcement that "the increase in the generation charge this month was the result of the eight-day shutdown of the Malampaya gas pipeline, which affected one-third of the total power supply in Luzon in July." But what's the real score?

Currently minority stockholders of Meralco, the Lopezes locked in Meralco's power supply to power plants they own even after selling the company's lion's share to the other oligarchs, to ensure that they would continue to enjoy the fruits of the sweetheart deal they dealt for themselves.

Meralco admitted that "it sourced 45.6 percent of its requirements from three independent power producers (IPPs) — the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo gas plants (both Lopez-owned) and the Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. — which increased their rates by a combined 48 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P5.58 per kWh," which was why "without the gas from the Malampaya… the Lopez Group's First Gas resorted to the use of more expensive liquid condensate fuel to ensure a continued generation supply to Meralco."

Now why wasn't Meralco made to shift primarily to cheap hydroelectric power? The first typhoons this year entered the Philippines in June and the dams were already filled.

In that same report, Meralco admitted that state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor), from which it gets 41.7 percent of its supply, had reduced its power sold to Meralco by P0.66 per kWh; and yet the private power company said it "failed to offset the increases in the Wesm (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) and IPP charges." Now how on earth would a reduction of P0.66 per kWh fail to offset the P0.48 per kWh increase by the Lopez gas-powered IPPs? Here's why: Meralco said it sourced 12.6 percent of its supply from Wesm at a cost of P14.70 per kWh. Isn't the Wesm supposed to help promote competitiveness and lower prices? Instead, it always contributes to increasing the prices because its "market operations" ensure the IPPs' windfall.

A Wesm Web site explains, "The Wesm is designed to encourage competition in generation while at the same time providing incentives for the effective operation and development of the transmission networks, coupled with locational price signals to encourage the economically correct geographic placement of any future planned generation," obviously using language designed for arbitrary interpretations and selective allocation. Thus, in the past years Wesm prices have gone up to P60 per kWh as it did sometime in 2008 or 2009 when government attempted (through the spot market) to recover its losses from Gloria Arroyo's favors to the power oligarchs. Since the Wesm share in the total price would only be around 10 percent, it will simply go unnoticed if media do not report on it. But as the public has now wised up, people like us now monitor it. However, for the most part, there are a number of media outlets that the oligarchs still completely control to hoodwink the innocents.

[Imfersonated]

Di ba dapat ang thread title eh -- Study: Philippines has the highest electricity rates in Asia

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[blue_tracer]

Di ba dapat ang thread title eh -- Study: Philippines has the highest electricity rates in Asia

?

hahaha

ikaw ba si BSA III dati?

[Imfersonated]

di na importante kung sino ako dati. ang mahalaga, pnoy is keeping electricity prices at a rate such that the inquirer and abs-cbn can continue to afford the occassional kuryente