High electricity costs: What can the Philippines do?
Electricity in the Philippines is expensive, and families and businesses feel it every month.
Depending on consumption and billing period, residential electricity in Metro Manila can approach P15 to P16 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). In Makati, where I live and work, many households effectively pay around P16.
We can debate why electricity in Association of Southeast Asian Nations neighbors appears cheaper. Some governments subsidize power; some have greater domestic energy resources. The Philippines imports much of its fuel and operates across an archipelago. These factors matter, but they do not lower anyone’s bill.
So the useful question is: What can we do about it?
After more than 25 years in renewable energy, I believe the Philippines can turn this challenge into an economic opportunity.
Start with what the Philippines has. The Philippines may not have abundant oil and gas, but it has sunlight. Solar has evolved from an expensive, subsidy-dependent technology into one of the world’s most competitive sources of new electricity, while battery costs have fallen substantially.
Awareness of solar and storage is growing among Philippine households and businesses. The question is increasingly how to make systems affordable and properly installed at scale. At today’s electricity prices, producing part of one’s own power increasingly makes economic sense.
Financing is emerging. Upfront cost remains the biggest obstacle. Many families cannot easily spend several hundred thousand pesos on a solar-and-battery system.
Pag-Ibig Fund, Social Security System, and Government Service Insurance System serve millions of Filipino workers and families. Their interest in affordable financing for solar and energy-saving investments is encouraging. Qualified households should be able to finance properly designed systems over long periods, with monthly payments ideally below their previous electricity bills. Instead of paying indefinitely, families gradually own an energy-producing asset.
Scale can lower costs. As interest in solar and storage accelerates, demand is testing installation capacity and costs—a sign of a market moving toward larger-scale adoption.
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority is already working with suppliers to train qualified installation and service teams. As Filipino installers gain experience, installation speed should approach that of more mature markets, while scale, competition, and efficiency reduce costs.
Lower system costs create a positive cycle: financing institutions can serve more families with the same capital, household returns improve, and monthly loan payments can fall further below existing electricity bills.
Installation, logistics, maintenance, and related services could also directly and indirectly create an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 jobs.
Build the supply chain here. If millions of Filipino families eventually install solar panels, batteries and inverters, such a large domestic market should be able to support a broader local supply chain.
The country already has an electronics base, industrial parks, export infrastructure and capable workers. My experience helping establish advanced solar-cell manufacturing in Batangas has strengthened my confidence that Filipino workers can operate sophisticated equipment to international standards.
Domestic demand can support competitive local manufacturing and assembly of modules, battery packs, inverters, and other components where localization makes economic sense—creating jobs, shortening delivery times, and strengthening local after-sales service.
Energy policy is industrial policy. Millions of solar homes would create distributed energy close to where electricity is consumed—particularly relevant for an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands. Solar and storage will not replace the grid or meet every requirement of large industrial users, but they can reduce demand, improve household resilience, and complement reliable large-scale generation.
Lower and more predictable energy costs can also strengthen the Philippines’ competitiveness for manufacturing investment.
From discussion to execution. One lesson from my years in renewable energy is consistent: technology, financing and policy matter—but execution determines the result.
The Philippines has sunlight, people, demand, and growing market awareness. Financing is emerging, training is underway, technology is ready, and local manufacturing capability is growing. The task now is to turn this momentum into scale—with strong standards, responsible lending, and qualified installation.
When I see electricity approaching P16 per kWh, I see not only a problem, but rooftops generating power, batteries serving families at night, local factories producing equipment, and Filipino technicians building a new industry.
High electricity prices are today’s reality, but they can become a catalyst for lower household costs, more jobs and a stronger, cleaner and more locally rooted energy industry.
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Samuel Yang is an Australian renewable energy entrepreneur and chair of GBF New Power Group Inc.
