Bayan Muna's Zarate: Allowing Meralco's rate hike may break consumers’ backs

After the Supreme Court upheld the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC's) 2013 order allowing Meralco to impose a power rate hike, former Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate said on Tuesday that the decision was another “financial burden” on Filipinos amid the rising cost of basic commodities and petroleum products.

In a statement, Zarate, who previously petitioned the High Court to indefinitely extend a temporary restraining order on Meralco's P4.15 per kilowatt-hour rate increase, stressed that the decision “could not have come at a worse time.”

"With the prices of basic commodities still skyrocketing due to continued big-time oil price hikes and the weakening of the peso, this is another unwanted burden on our people. A financial burden like this, once Meralco imposes this new power rate hike–on top of the already high electricity rates, may already break the Filipino consumers' backs,” Zarate said.

He also claimed that Meralco “abused its dominant position” against the consumers, causing the “highest power rate hike in history.”

"We still maintain our position that the energy players then gamed the electricity stock market that resulted in the highest rate hike at an additional P4.15 per kWh. Meralco, as a monopoly in its big area of operation, also abused its dominant position to the prejudice of consumers,” he added.

The ERC in December 2013 allowed Meralco to increase electricity rates by P4.15/kWh in three tranches from December 2013 to March 2014 following the maintenance shutdown of SPEX-Malampaya which prompted them to buy higher-priced electricity supply from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

The ERC, however, denied Meralco’s request to charge the carrying costs.

The Supreme Court then ruled that the ERC did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it allowed the utility to charge its consumers on a staggered basis and recover P22.64 billion in generation costs.

With the SC upholding the 2013 ERC order, Zarate vowed to continue helping place safeguards in the electricity market to prevent similar “rapacious profit-seeking practices" in the future.

Motion for reconsideration

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna chairperson Neri Colmenares, who also filed a petition in 2013, told GMA News Online that they will be filing a motion for reconsideration for the SC decision next week.

He echoed the sentiments of Zarate, indicating that allowing Meralco to raise its power rates is “another blow to Filipino consumers.”

"It seems that Meralco and the Supreme Court are mocking the new administration's declaration that it wants lower rates. Meralco has grown too big and powerful. As it is, the Meralco monopoly has to be broken so that they cannot control the power rates," Colmenares said.

President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier said he is looking at amending the Arroyo-era Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to bring down the cost of electricity.

Enacted in 2001, EPIRA, a landmark pro-market reform, aims to ensure reliable and competitively priced electricity in the country. Among its salient features is the division of the electric power industry into four sub-sectors — generation, transmission, distribution, and supply — to ensure a level-playing field among players in the energy sector. — DVM/KBK, GMA News