A Press Conference entitled “Presyo sa Kuryente, AltaPresyon sa Konsumante” was held on August 31 in N Hotel, Cagayan de Oro City to answer questions and enlighten participants and media practitioners on the pressing issues right now in the energy sector.
Jose Raul A. Saniel, President of the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. opened the presscon. Messages were also delivered by APEC Partylist Representative Congressman Sergio S. Dagooc, President of Philipine Association of BOD of Rural Electric Cooperatives -Atty. Gloria C. Corrales, and PHILRECA Executive Director and General Manager Atty. Janeene Depay-Colingan all geared towards another episode of the national conversation, that focus on pricing and on a few areas that affect electricity pricing considering revenues, costs, profits, and related perspectives.
It is the final consumer including the 15 million member consumer owners of the electric cooperatives who ultimately shoulders three costs: distribution, transmission, and power generation. What he pays are reflected in the electricity price index. Based on the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) survey, 4.800195% or more than 1/25 of all household expenditures in the Philippines go to electricity.
But the current talks discussed on why electric cooperatives are blamed on the increases when the Philippines’ ECs are only a collector of all the other charges from other players in the chain of energy consumption. The Philippines faces three energy insecurity problems: 1) electricity demand is growing fast; 2) the supply of electricity is often short of demand; 3) the discrepancy in electrification rate between cities and rural areas. These are within the core of this discussion. (Photos: Team wISDom)