Deputy House Speaker and Bacolod Representative Alfredo Abelard “Albee” Benitez urged government energy officials to identify priority areas for new power plants and retroactively implement electricity price caps to cushion consumers from recurring outages across the Visayas region.
He said these were stressed during a joint briefing on Monday conducted by the House Committees on Energy, Visayas Development, and Legislative Franchises.
The meeting was called to seek explanations from the Department of Energy (DOE) and its attached agencies regarding chronic power outages in the Visayas.
Benitez said during the briefing they focused on the need for strategic placement of generation facilities, which is vital to resolving systemic supply deficits.
“Having a say on where power plants should be built can help make sure the areas that need power most are served first,” Benitez said.
Thery also called for the retroactive implementation of decoupling the Luzon and Visayas power grids, he said.
“This would trigger the Secondary Price Cap for yellow and red alert periods, and could mean lighter bills for consumers who paid steep prices while enduring rotational brownouts,” he said
“Long-term solutions matter, but people who continue to bear the effects of this problem need relief now,” he added.
Meanwhile, Rep. Javier Miguel “Javi” L. Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) told a joint House hearing that Visayas consumers are being billed for reserve power that is not being delivered.
He has sponsored House Resolution No. 1430 seeking a congressional inquiry into ancillary services charges.
The ancillary services line on Visayas electricity bills rose this year from 27 centavos to one peso and four centavos per kilowatt-hour, nearly four times in two years, he said. *
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