Earlier today (January 22, 2019), the House Energy panel
approved the ‘Murang Kuryente’ bill, originally authored by Energy Committee
Chairman Lord Allan Velasco, together with Energy Vice-Chair Caloy Uybarreta.
The average electricity price for residential customers in
the Philippines is reportedly the second highest in Asia, and the highest in
all of Southeast Asia.
Part of the burden being shared by Filipino electricity
consumers is the Stranded Contract Costs and Stranded Debts of the National
Power Corporation (NPC) through the Universal Charge component of their
electricity bills.
The high cost of electricity has further weighed down
Filipinos already reeling from high inflation and rising costs of living.
This bill seeks to ease
the said burden on Filipino consumers by allocating about Php123 billion from
the net national government share of the Malampaya fund to pay NPC’s stranded
contract costs and stranded debts transferred to and assumed by the PSALM,
until 2023.
PSALM collects an amount from consumers to pay the stranded
debts through a universal charge that is incorporated in their monthly
electricity bill.
In 2017, the universal charge went up to P0.2 per kilowatt hour. This translates to P44.06
monthly payment for the universal charge for a household consumption of
200-kilowatt hour.
Energy Committee Chair and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco said the Malampaya subsidy could help unburden consumers with an
estimated “savings of 57 centavos per kilowatt hour” in electricity bills.
This should be a welcome relief to the average Filipino
consuming public, and the pesos saved in electricity bills could always mean
more money spent for other essential household expenses like rice or food.
