| PPA 101
By
Andy Darag
YESTERDAY AFTERNOON,
after the mob, I had to attend a meeting hosted by the people in
the house on Maamo Street. A whole bunch of activities were announced,
but more importantly, the campaign calling against the power purchase
adjustment (PPA) of Meralco was discussed.
What is PPA?
It's that pesky thing that shows up on your electricity bill that's
ridiculously bloated. Why is it bloated beyond comprehension? Here
was the Maamo Street explanation, in a rather large nutshell:
In the country,
two institutions charge for electricity: the National Power Corporation
(Napocor), and Meralco.
Since the Power
Reform Bill was passed last year, Napocor has been quietly going
its way to privitization. As part of the deal, it has 35 existing
contracts with independent power producers (IPPs), who serve as
"spare wheels" in case there is a sudden demand for additional
energy. The premise, of course, is that the country is in a period
of growth and that new, expanding industries need energy.
Unfortunately,
these spare tires still get paid, as stipulated by these contracts,
even if they don't actually supply anything. Napocor thus needs
to pass on this expense to consumers, in the form of PPA. From a
basic Php 3.23 per kilowatt per hour, an additional Php 1.25 is
tacked on.
Now, that's
a lot of money when everything is computed. The public ruckus, of
course, has resulted in a highly publicized voluntary blackout,
and the next day the President ordered an 85-centavo reduction.
What happened to the 40 centavos left over? This will still be paid
by consumers since it will be labelled "a universal charge"
coming in 2003.
For the bankrupt
government to cover the the 85-centavo reduction, a whooping US$100
million is needed to be taken out in foreign loans. This, of course,
will be paid with interest by Filipino taxpayers. So it's only delaying
the inevitable, instead of tackling with the possibly bad contracts
of the IPPs.
The government
loves to say its solved the problem, but actually nothing has been
done, since at the end of the month pre-computed bills will arrive
at the doorsteps of the country, and the so-called reduction will
not be registered on it. People lulled into believing that the PPA
was reduced will get very, very mad. Which exposes the publicity
stunt for what it really is: trash.
But wait, I haven't even mentioned Meralco yet! This gets weirder.
Meralco charges the basic Php 3.23 and a PPA of Php 1.98.
Aside from this,
however, since September 2001 Meralco has been adding another item
in its bill, something called the "under-recoveries" that
pays for "certain expenses" the company has supposedly
delayed charging to the consumers. By December 2001, this under-recovery
fund has bloated to Php 12.34 billion. Furthermore, this additional
tack-on charge has been done Ilegally without the consent
of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that is now demanding
for an explanation why the government shouldn't file a criminal
case against Meralco.
What's even
worse about Meralco which isn't known is that it plans to unbundle
by June 26. In a nutshell, this still unapproved Meralco proposal
shows that the PPA charge will be absorbed into the generation and
transmission components of the bill. So on paper, the PPA has disappeared,
but in reality it's still there, disguised as something else.
So how can we,
the common Filipino, show our collective displeasure?
1) non-payment of PPA component of our power bill (if you have the
guts!)
2) participating in the voluntary blackout and other protest actions
by cause-oriented groups and informing others to take part.
If we the people
have been able to remove corrupt presidents from power, controlling
corrupt power companies shouldn't be a problem.
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