CONSUMERS will be paying more for electicity as a result of the projected power crisis in Luzon this summer, a House official said on Monday.
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House committee on energy and the head of the House contingent to the bicameral conference committee on energy, said Congress would not be able to pass the bill giving President Aquino emergency powers due to a deadlock on whether to pass on to consumers the expenses to be incurred in the interruptible load program.
Umali said the House will remain firm on its stand on a ‘no pass-on’ provision that the Senate, led by Senator Serge Osmena, is opposing.
“I am a hopeless optimist. I am still hoping this [no pass-on] will happen because this will provide relief to our people,” Umali told reporters.
I am hopeless optimistic, and still hope this will happen, this will provide immediate relief to our people.”
Umali made his statement even as the special powers the Aquino administration had been asking for from Congress was not granted on Monday after lawmakers disagreed on who should pay for the cost of the companies that use their own generators to help ease the expected power shortage this summer.
But Senator Sergio Osmeña III, who heads the Senate committee on energy, said it really mattered little whether Congress passed Joint Resolution No. 12, which provides for the special powers, because the Electric Power Industry Reform Act and other energy policies had already authorized it anyway.
“We will have to conduct another bicam if we agree. If we don’t agree, then there will be no resolution…but believe me, the [Interruptible Load Program] is working anyway,” Osmeña said.
The deadlock emerged during the second bicameral conference committee meeting that was supposed to reconcile the differences between the versions of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The House’s version charges the cost of the ILP to the Malampaya funds, while the Senate’s passes it on to consumers at a rate of 4 centavos per kilowatt hour, but the legislators concluded their meeting without an agreement.
Umali said the House leadership will stand by its version of the House Joint Resolution 21 that the government should not impose additional electricity cost on consumers.
“The House is standing firm [on our version of the HJR 21]. We have consulted the House leadership on this. We can only hope things will be clearer soonest,” Umali said.
Given the impasse, Umali said, the projected power crisis in Luzon will cost a huge amount to the economy. Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta
“Every one centavo increase will cost about 700 million pesos to the economy,” Umali said.
He said the rules and regulations under the Energy Regulatory Comission, such as the pass-on provision, would prevail should the Senate and the House of Representatives fail to reconcile their differences on the joint resolution.
Similarly, the ILP program of the government will continue provided that a significant cost will be charged to consumers during the crisis period.
The Department of Energy has projected a power supply shortage of 700 to 745 megawatts due to higher demand during summer.