TUCP Partylist opposes Interruptible Load Program

Says ALL, including business must bear burden in time of power shortage



Describing the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) as "the poor

subsidizing the very rich,'' the Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP

Partylist) expressed stiff opposition to the program that the

Department of Energy (DOE) will operationalize with Meralco once the

"red alert" level indicating a power supply deficit is reached this

summer season.



Under the ILP, large commercial and industrial corporations, including

malls, will run own generator sets to power up their energy needs for

their air-conditioning, lighting and operations as a solution to the

anticipated power shortage this summer. This will free-up some power

supply that Meralco can use to service the captive residential

households and small enterprises in its franchise area. Those running

their own generator sets - the most expensive power source - will then

pass through their fuel and maintenance costs to the Meralco

consumers.



TUCP Partylist lamented that this is tantamount to a direct subsidy

from the mostly poor and middle-class customers of Meralco to the

participating industries like SM Malls and Robinson Malls owned by Sy

and Gokongwei, respectively.



"Why are Meralco residential customers going to be made to pay for

power they did not use and never consumed in their households? Why

will they be made to pay for the air-conditioning of the SM and

Robinson Malls? Anong pakialam natin kung patakbuhin nila o hindi ang

mga aircon nila? Kailan naging utang- na- loob natin sa SM o Robinsons

na kailangan tayo bilang Meralco customers ang singilin para sa

air-conditioning nila? (When did it become the obligation of the

captive Meralco residential customer to help ensure the already very

healthy profit margins of SM and Robinsons?)"



"This appears to be a wily scheme that will benefit most the big

shopping mall owners like Henry Sy of SM Group and John Gokongwei of

Robinsons Group who both holds controlling shares in the power

industry," said TUCP Partylist Representative Raymond Mendoza.



Henry Sy, Jr. is the owner of One Taipan which is a majority

shareholder in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP)

that has monopoly in the transmission sector in the power industry in

the Philippines. John Gokongwei on the other hand now owns 48% shares

in Meralco that were previously held by Ramon Ang.



TUCP Executive Director Louie Corral warned that the dominant position

of the Sy, Gokongwei and Manny Pangilinan groups in the power industry

and their equally dominant role in the telecoms, real estate, retail

and hospital sectors make ILP rife with conflict-of-interest. "What is

DOE thinking? Even the Pangilinan-led TV 5 and Smart Communications

will qualify as an ILP participant. Consumers will be bled dry on all

fronts for a price-gouging Meralco and from all these ILP participants

pretending to do as a good deed."



"We remind all these oligarchs that capitalism without risk is not

part of the social contract. Why will Meralco residential customers

have to pay to ensure that SM and Robinson malls have electricity for

their customers to enjoy comfort while shopping? It is not a social

good. These companies light up their malls at their own cost in order

to bring in customers from whom they earn as what they've been doing

until this ILP - they run their generator sets in times of brownouts

without getting paid by other electricity consumers. But now that they

are also in the power business, they want to earn both ways? Ginawa na

si Juan de la Cruz na charitable organization ng Meralco at ng mga

malls. Ano sila, sinusuwerte?" Corral explained.



"We believe that in time of crisis, power crisis in this instance, ALL

must sacrifice and all must bear the burden. This means including the

big businesses, the commercial and industrial sector, not just the

poor, often disadvantaged residential consumers," added Rep. Mendoza.



TUCP Partylist slammed the scheme, questioning its legality as it has

not even gone through the due process of a public hearing at the

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). "As if Meralco and DOE has not

learned some lessons from its rate increase last December, and here it

is again implementing a scheme without consulting the public who will

shell out hard-earned money for power it is not directly consuming."



Corral also expressed apprehension as to why the DOE has even deigned

to look at the proposed ILP as solution to the power shortage, instead

of improving policies to ensure stable and long-term supply of

electricity in the country. "When Meralco management spectacularly

failed to ensure alternative supply for the prescheduled Malampaya

shutdown last December, its automatic solution was to charge to the

consumers the expensive power it got from the Wholesale Electricity

Spot Market (WESM). Now, DOE and its cohort Meralco will again make

the hapless Meralco consumers become the insurers and fall guy against

all the policy failings and management errors in their highly

profitable power racket."



"The power companies and big corporations of Sy, Gokongwei, and

Pangilinan are not sacrificing, they continue to benefit and will now

even double profit during crisis while others suffer from heat and the

high price of electricity," stressed Corral.