The Senate will prioritize amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 to lower electricity prices in the Philippines, hopefully by December, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri reiterated on Tuesday, July 28.
“We’ll try to make it a Christmas gift for everyone, so hopefully by December we will be able to pass the legislation” to finally prohibit charging consumers for system losses, including the value-added tax (VAT) imposed on them, he said.
“It will be a big boost in terms of discounting electricity bills,” Zubiri said.
President Ferdinand Marcos, in his State of the Nation Address on Monday, said it is his view “that it is time to remove the system loss that is being passed on to consumers. This is being passed on to consumers and put in the bill, subject also to value-added tax.”
“We demand the immediate amendment of EPIRA and to prohibit charging system loss against consumers, including the value-added tax thereon,” Marcos said.
He also asked for Congress’s help to pass a law that will make it easier for ordinary Filipinos to install solar panels on their homes.*
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