THE PANAY Energy Alliance strongly challenges the Department of Energy’s (DOE) call to solve the power crisis in Panay and the Visayas through more private investments.
DOE Secretary Sharon Garin has acknowledged that red and yellow alerts in the Visayas Grid are unlikely to disappear soon. The government is looking at power barges and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) as short-term measures, while two privately controlled power plants in Iloilo are reportedly still about five years away from completion. Garin has also called on private investors to help address Panay’s supply problem, including a possible Panay-Mindoro-Batangas interconnection.
CRISIS MASTERS CANNOT BE THE SOLUTION
Private companies like Aboitiz Power, Meralco, and San Miguel are being presented as the answer to a crisis. This is despite the fact that private generators already play a major role in the same crisis. Consumers continue to suffer from brownouts and high electricity prices under an electric system that has become a profit-making venture of Filipino billionaires for more than two decades under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).
They also stand to benefit from increases in spot market electricity prices, which have reportedly increased fourfold from January to August of this year.
Hence, there is nothing scientific or pro-people about simply throwing more private investment at the problem. What is clear from Secretary Garin’s pronouncements is business as usual while the public bears the burden of the crisis.
HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE
It is wrong in putting aside calls for accountability. It is essential in solving the crisis and planning for future energy needs, along with evidence, transparency and technical assessments.
The public is demanding accountability from the private generators and power interests that dominate the electricity market and are responsible for the present crisis.
Panay Energy Alliance demands that private generators and power plant owners disclose the reasons for their shutdowns, their current operating conditions, and when they are expected to become fully reliable. The public must be informed of how much generating capacity is actually available and how much is dependable.
Panay Energy Alliance also asserts that power suppliers must disclose their bilateral supply agreements and participation in the spot market. Consumers have the right to know what they are paying for and who benefits when electricity prices remain high.
Ultimately, the government must intervene and implement a rollback of electricity prices to April 2026 levels, subject to transparent regulatory review. It should also suspend VAT on electricity bills, as well as VAT and excise tax on oil, to help bring down energy costs.
END THE PRIVATIZATION OF A BASIC PUBLIC SERVICE
Building new private power plants that will take five years to complete does not solve today’s crisis. It only guarantees the flow of superprofits for private investors.
The long-term solution requires fundamentally changing the energy system. Panay Energy Alliance calls for the junking of EPIRA and the nationalization of the energy sector—putting generation, transmission, distribution, and energy planning under genuine public control to ensure transparency and accountability.
Reliable electricity should not be a luxury. It is a public necessity. So it must be affordable and accessible, free from capitalist dictates, and serves the needs of the people.
Panay does not need another business opportunity disguised as an energy solution. Indi negosyo ang solusyon sa krisis sa elektrisidad nga negosyo mismo ang nagtuga. – PANAY ENERGY ALLIANCE <panayconsumers.pca@gmail.com>
