[In the news] High price of electricity is anti-women, anti-poor – www.cmaq.net

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Human Rights Online Philippines 3 comments

PHILIPPINES: High price of electricity is anti-women, anti-poor

MANILA, Philippines – In a society where women are mostly in-charge of managing the household budget, higher electricity rates mean additional burdens and deeper indebtedness for Filipino women, especially those who already find it hard to make ends meet.

Members of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) – Women’s Committee picketing the office of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in Ortigas Center, sent this message to oppose an impending new wave of electricity rate hikes.

The National Power Corporation (Napocor) and Power Sector Assets Liabilities Management (PSALM) filed petitions with the ERC for the recovery of stranded debts and contract costs amounting to almost P140 billion. This translates to 40 centavos per kilowatt-hour that, with ERC’s go-ahead, will be collected through the universal charge.

Judy Ann Chan-Miranda of the FDC Women’s Committee urged the regulatory body to junk the petition of Napocor and PSALM, stressing that it is “anti-women” and “anti-poor.”

“High power rates means women taking on even more work to pay for electricity and have something left for other essentials. It means cutting the budget for food, medicines and healthcare, the education of children. It means having little choice but borrow from loan sharks to avoid disconnection,” said Chan-Miranda.

FDC filed an intervention before the regulatory body last August 19, stressing the lack of merit and substance of Napocor and PSALM’s petitions.

The coalition warned that the proposed rate hike is part of a series of petitions lined up by Napocor and PSALM to fully source from consumers the payments for Napocor’s $17 billion or P729 billion (P42 = $1) debt.

In a previous statement, FDC said the petition on stranded debts tends to lump all types of Napocor losses to be paid for by electricity consumers through the universal charge (UC). “This opens the door for Napocor to charge consumers twice – through its regulated rates and through the UC.”

The coalition added that “the amounts sought in the latest applications do not have any relation to our legitimate usage of electricity because these are mainly financial obligations in the form of debts, borne of past government incompetence, mismanagement and corruption.”

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