Transparency in extra power bills
Amid the outrage over additional charges that have been added to the consumers’ electric bill, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest power distributor, pointed to the government as their source.
The additional costs are for senior citizen discount, lifeline subsidy rate for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), funding for electrification in remote areas, feed-in tariff (Fit-All) and the development of green energy.
Meralco said it acts only as a collection agent and that the money collected goes to whichever government office handles the programs to be funded by the collections.
In defense, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) stated that those charges “are imposed in accordance with existing laws and policies,” which means they are legitimate and therefore have to be paid by the consumers.
Following that explanation, if the consumer fails to timely pay them in full, Meralco can suspend or disconnect the power connection of the defaulting customer.
In effect, Meralco’s customers and those of all other power distributors in the country have no choice but share in the cost of maintaining those programs, regardless of their sentiments about them.
This compulsory contribution (which may aptly be described as legitimized extortion) is on top of the direct and indirect taxes that Filipinos are obliged to pay to the government to fund its operations.
In the discussion on the merits and demerits of those charges, an important issue appears to have been overlooked —the accounting of the money that have been collected and will be collected in the future if the charges remain in place despite the consumer uproar.
Note that although those charges are not, strictly speaking, taxes, they are imbued with public interest because they are collected from the people and turned over to the government for disposition.
Thus, the public has the right to know where their hard-earned money that is discreetly (or covertly) taken from them through power distributors is being used or misused (think “ghost” flood control projects) by the government.
That being the case, under existing laws, the Commission on Audit has the responsibility of seeing to it that those funds are used for the purposes for which they are collected.
To date, the ERC and other government offices that are supposed to receive and manage those funds have not disclosed how much have, so far, been collected and how they have been disbursed.
For example, take a look at the lifeline subsidy rate for the 4Ps beneficiaries. If the charge for that program has been in place since the passing of the Epira law in 2001, or 25 years ago, then it may have reached several millions of pesos already.
How was the subsidy implemented? Who were the recipients of the financial assistance? What safeguards have been implemented to make sure the money is received by legitimate 4Ps beneficiaries? What measures are being taken to prevent the recipients from developing an attitude of continuing entitlement to the subsidy and other benefits given by the government?
The same questions on identification and monitoring apply to the senior citizens discount. It is common knowledge that discount is often taken advantage of by the children or relatives of senior citizens through various deceptive schemes.
Finally, with regard to electrification in remote rural areas and development of green energy, how much have been collected and what projects have been funded and implemented, if any, to accomplish those objectives? What is the public’s assurance that the money collected for these projects would, through bureaucratic manipulation, not be diverted to unprogrammed projects in the national budget?
With the scandal on flood control projects still fresh in the mind of the public, the lack of transparency in the management of the funds collected through the extra charges in the power bill justifies the ongoing consumer outrage.
For comments, please send your email to raul.palabrica@inquirer.net.
