In a press conference organized by the Association of Mindanao Electric Cooperatives (AMRECO), APEC Party-List Representative Sergio Dagooc delved into the salient provisions of the Republic Act 9136 of 2001 or the Electric Power Reform Act (EPIRA) that are due for amendment.

Rep. Dagooc lamented how the ongoing power crisis can be resolved by amending the law, citing the need to tailor-fit EPIRA with the current electric power situation.

As an elected legislator, Rep. Dagooc dug into the House Bills filed by the Power Bloc to specifically target certain sections in the EPIRA which allow the ballooning price spikes to proliferate, specifically: Sec. 31, 38, 45, 47 (f), and 47 (j).

At the outset, Rep. Dagooc discussed House Bill 3432, an amendment to Section 31 of the EPIRA – the Retail Competition Open Access (RCOA) clause. The bill proposes that the load requirement of any end-user who chooses to avail electricity supply directly from the power supplier shall be automatically deducted from the total load contracted by the distribution utility in its power supply contract in order to protect those who will remain with the DU from unwanted and passed-on stranded contract costs.

Next, Rep. Dagooc tackled House Bill 2150, which seeks to empower the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in monitoring oil prices charged to oil-based power generation facilities. The bill aims to expand the power of ERC in relation to Section 38 of the EPIRA, which is responsible for its creation. Rep. Dagooc notes that under Section 38, there is no mention of allowing ERC to scrutinize the documents of generation companies (GenCos) in relation to the purchase cost of fuel, invoking the confidentiality provision of the law. The solon emphasized the current rising fuel costs which directly affected the power rates, thus the need to amend the law.

Next, Rep. Dagoc also mentioned House Bill 3430, an amendment to Section 45 of the EPIRA, which covers Cross-Ownership, Market Power Abuse, and Anti-Competitive Behavior in the energy sector. Under this measure, no generation company, distribution utility, or its respective subsidiary or affiliate or stockholder or official of a generation company or distribution utility, and any of their relatives within the sixth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity, or other entity engaged in generating and supplying electricity specified by ERC shall be allowed to hold any interest, directly or indirectly, in TRANSCO or its concessionaire. To add, no company or related group can own, operate or control more than fifteen percent (15%) of the installed generating capacity of a grid.

To prevent market power abuse between affiliated firms engaged in generation and distribution, the bill further proposes an allowable percentage of bilateral contracts that the distribution utilities may source from its affiliated firms engaged in generation, such as 60% for 50MW and below, 50% for 51-100MW, 40% for 101-250MW, and 30% for 251-500MW.
Lastly, Rep. Dagooc also tackled House Bill 2153, which amends Section 47 (f) of the EPIRA pertaining to NPC Privatization. The bill states that the Agus and the Pulangui complexes in Mindanao shall not be privatized and shall be retained to generate power that will serve as a buffer supply to avert power crises. Further, the bill adds that the electric cooperatives shall be prioritized in contracting these complexes’ capacity to serve the needs of the residential consumers.

Rep. Dagooc also highlighted that the bill aims to amend Section 47 (j) to allow NPC to generate and sell electricity and to construct and maintain additional capacity equivalent to the capacity of the biggest power plant in every grid, for ancillary purposes in order to stabilize the grid in any given time that a base plant experience outage.

Following the discussion on EPIRA, Rep. Dagooc also mentioned the pertinent bills in the 18th Congress which were re-filed in the 19th Congress by the Power Bloc: House Bill 2151 or the Electricity VAT Exemption Act which aims to alleviate the financial burden of high power costs (and limit the multiple layers of taxes) by exempting the sale of electric power from VAT; House Bill 2152 or the Energy Advocacy Counsel Office which seeks to create an Energy Counsel Office likened to a public legal office that shall represent the interest of electricity end-users in order to ensure low and reasonable power rates; and House Bill 2155: Sub-meter Regulation which provides a framework for regulating sub-meters and other electricity redistribution methods utilized by end-users in order to protect the interests of electric consumers (such as tenants) who avail of sub-meters.

Rep. Dagooc emphasized that to protect the end-users from the increasing electricity rates, the Power Bloc pushes for the approval of the bills amending the EPIRA, House Bill 2151, and House Bill 3431 or the Systems Loss Act, which seeks to regulate and reduce systems losses by institutionalizing the rules on allowable systems loss cap of electric distribution utilities

As a rejoinder, Dagooc presents the Way Forward, referencing the directive of President Marcos Jr. to lower electricity costs as part of his priority legislative agenda.

“Way forward, parang may pag-asa na tayo kasi ang ika-disinwebe na item ng SONA ni Presidente ay ang pag-review at pag-revisit sa EPIRA. May pag-asa ang Power Bloc na mapa-schedule ang mga bills na ito. Ma-i-speed up ito dahil ito ang instruction ng Presidente. Ngayon, I think we have the support of the Administration, na ibaba ang presyo ng kuryente.” Rep. Dagooc ended.