GABRIELA Solon Calls for Repeal of EPIRA, Removal of VAT on Electricity to Bring Down Power Rates

“The EPIRA is a failure. That Filipino families now contend with having to pay the highest electricity rates in Asia is enough proof that Congress has done a great disservice by enacting this law. I urge my colleagues in Congress to correct this error and immediately review and repeal the EPIRA and pass measures that will bring help electricity rates down.”

This was according to Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Luz Ilagan as she joined calls for Congress to immediately review and repeal the Electric Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA which marks its tenth year of implementation today, June 8.

Taking note of data from consumer group, POWER or People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates, Ilagan said that average power rates charged to Meralco customers more than doubled during the period EPIRA was implemented.

In 2000, the average rate was only P4.87/kWh but in 2010, the average rate reached P10.35/kWh.Yesterday, the country’s biggest power distributor, Meralco announced another increase in the overall generation charge for the month of June from P5.02 to P5.53 per kwh.

“This simply is too much to bear for the average Filipino family,” said Ilagan who notes that Meralco also announced a P0.20 increase in generation charges in April of this year.

The Gabriela solon also called for a review of multiple taxation schemes being imposed on electricity consumers as a way to help ease the burden of high electricity rates. Studying electricity bills, Ilagan notes that government taxes consumers for generation charges, transmission charges and even for systems loss.

“This is simply highway robbery!”“Along with Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Kabataan and ACT Teachers, we in Gabriela Women’s Party are pushing for HB 1630 which exempts the Sale of Electricity by Generation, Transmission and Distribution Utilities from VAT. This proposal will bring down electricity rates by 12%, a big relief to struggling Filipino families.”