Power scammers riding high

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
5/27/2011



While the nation gets distracted by debates on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, the oligarchs and their foreign partners continue to ride high on the 10-year-old Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) — responsible for making RP’s electricity rates the highest in Asia and now poised to raise these further to soaring atmospheric heights. The past week alone, three major news items already escaped the public’s attention: First, we have the Energy Regulatory Commission-backed “renewable rates” for solar and wind power. Passed by an idiotic Congress via Republic Act 9513 or the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 upon the badgering of foreign and local energy lobbyists and the oligarchy-controlled media, the measure is now in the final stages of implementation. With the formulation of the feed-in tariff (FIT) for renewable power that will be transmitted through the National Grid (read: “Greed”) Corp. of the Philippines, such a mix of traditional and renewable power sources will definitely spell an increase on our already high generation cost.

Proponents argue that we have to develop renewables sooner or later; but with the premature enforcement of this program when solar and wind are still grossly inefficient in energy conversion, we will be adding to the already exorbitant burden not only of consumers but also of the industrial sector where many companies have left for countries with lower power costs.

Our media, environmentalist NGOs and legislators are either dupes or have been corrupted by various incentives — from direct lobby money to advertising budgets, as well as travel and NGO grants — to still be singing praises for this.

Filipino consumers and industries will be made to subsidize renewable energy development when this is supposed to be shouldered by foreign supplying companies that have tie-ups with local Big Business groups.

I have rallied on the past two decades against the disinformation spread by mainstream media and foreign-funded environmental NGOs; but even an unlikely voice in the person of World Bank consultant Leonardo Lupano has warned that the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) overseeing the program and FIT rates “must be very careful in setting installation targets especially for the higher-cost technologies like wind and solar… (as) Spain had to drastically reduce the solar FIT rates and institute caps when 3 GW of solar was installed within one year.”

Lupano adds, “The impact on Spain ’s electricity rates was very high. Korea also experienced similar problems. Even German consumers are complaining that they subsidized the development of solar technology with high FITs, but China (the source of solar panels) is reaping the fruits… Ontario had to resort to every procedural trick in the book to slow down the approval of solar applications. NREB would (thus want) to avoid similar problems in the Philippines…”

But typical of the insensitivity of government bureaucrats feigning blindness to the plunder of power consumers, Bert Dalusong, former head of the NREB technical working group said that “…the P19 per kilowatt hour FIT rate being asked by the renewable energy developers is still cheaper than the price of diesel on the spot market, which could rise to as high as P30 per kWh.” But why compare with diesel when hydro is as low as P1 per kWh, as in Mindanao’s Agus and Pulangi, and geothermal ranges from P0.92 to P2.31 per kWh?

Second, there is the National Power Corp. (Napocor) May 12 rate hike petition of P0.2759 per kWh for one year, on top of the current P0.0454 per kWh universal charge for missionary electrification for the “off-grid service” in what it claims to be unrecovered P17 billion incurred over the years since Epira was passed. Reports state that the “adjustment will be used to ‘augment current financial requirements and in order to settle pending obligations with fuel and other suppliers which will enable NPC-SPUG (Napocor-Small Power Utilities Group) to shore up its financial situation.’”

What does Napocor think of us consumers, its perennial milking cow and piggy bank? But, as if this wasn’t enough, the state firm also wants to tap “restricted accounts normally used to settle court cases” for bridge financing.

Napocor is barred by a ruling of the Department of Justice from engaging in further borrowings and fund-raising activities such as bond issuances. Despite this, the company says it will even push through with its layoff of 600 to 700 employees, which means more separation pays.

Finally, the third item is thanks to a congresswoman of the “other” Kamag-anak Inc. who has chosen to do her worn-out “Person for Others” bit by generously sharing our hard earned (and even harder budgeted) money to pay for the power subsidies to the poor that they “love.” It appears Dina Abad, Ben Evardone, and some other legislators want to make more previously middle class power consumers join the ranks of the poor by certifying the bill amending the Epira as urgent, extending the lifeline rate paid for by the shrinking middle class (that can hardly afford the current power rates) — scheduled to end on June 26, 2011 — by another 10 years!

Abad, chairman of the House appropriations committee, certainly knows how to appropriate public money, just as her colleagues did in the CodeNGO PeaceBonds scam, and are doing now with the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) con game, and soon, we heard, in the government-funded “volunteer” housing construction program that the said NGO network is wresting away from Gawad Kalinga. Oh, when will we be spared of this Yellow ilk’s “goodness” toward society’s poor? Time to expose all these scammers for good.

(Tune in to Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m., and Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “More Power Scams”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)