Palace asks burdened public for more patience on power costs

They ask a burdened public for more patience.

Malacañang asked yesterday the public to be more patient with the government’s seemingly futile efforts to bring down the cost of electricity in the country.

"Konting tiyaga na lang (Please have a little more patience)," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said. According to him, President Arroyo is exerting all effort to solve the problem of high power rates.

At the moment, Bunye said, Mrs. Arroyo is in the process of negotiating with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) for the enforcement of the "economies of scale" program.

Bunye said the program aims to lessen the power demand from the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and eventually reduce the cost of power production.

Bunye also belied reports that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is trying to protect the interests of Meralco at the consumers’ expense.

He said the ERC is an independent body created under the law and that it would be highly improbable for such an agency to favor the interests of Meralco over those of the consuming public.

After the ERC approved its petition for a rate hike, Meralco increased power rates by 8.76 centavos per kilowatt-hour on June 1 for consumers using 300 kwh or more a month.

This would translate into a P17.51 increase in the monthly bills of consumers who use at least 200 kwh, according to the group People Opposed to Warantless Electricity Rates (POWER).

Meralco also began refunding P30.05 billion to small consumers as ordered by the Supreme Court, which ruled the power firm had overcharged consumers.

It will be recalled that the President vowed last year to find ways to reduce the cost of electricity, which is made more expensive by the add-on charge known as the purchased power adjustment (PPA).

The PPA represents the cost of surplus power purchased by Meralco from Napocor and independent power producers (IPPs), which Meralco passes on to its end-users.

The high cost of power, particularly because of the PPA, sparked controversy last year, with personalities like former senator Juan Ponce Enrile and Bayan Muna party-list Rep Crispin. Beltran openly protesting the surcharge.

Both Beltran and Enrile pointed out that it was unjust for the public to be made to pay for electricity they did not consume.

Meralco, on the other hand, said it does not profit from the PPA and is merely the collecting agency for the surcharge.

As of 2002, Meralco had outstanding total debt of P32 million. Its debts, as well as the lack of a rate increase since 1994, pushed the power firm to report a loss of P325.1 million in the first quarter of this year, against a loss of P72.8 million during the same period last year.