TUCP calls for ERC, Napocor revamp

MANILA, Philippines - Labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)- Nagkaisa on Tuesday expressed support for the granting of emergency powers to President Benigno Aquino III to address the power crisis.

 

The group's support entails the condition that the proposed solution will not drive up electricity rates and that there be a revamp of both the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

 

“TUCP-Nagkaisa will support the president but the solutions proposed should not punish workers and their families with an increase in power rates. We insist that the Department of Energy (DOE) now present their tariff simulations and cost-impact scenarios to the public so we will know what to do,” TUCP executive director Luis Corral.

 

TUCP-Nagkaisa accused PSALM of criminal negligence for not including in its budget for operations the pending case of the illegally terminated workers of the National Power Corporation.

 

The recent Commission on Audit report on both the financial and operational audit of the ERC showed it has failed to inspect 125 distribution utilities as to possible metering violations, allowing an overcharging of the bills of millions of customers.

 

“We will no longer tolerate the intellectual dishonesty and corruption in the DOE, the ERC and PSALM. Workers and their families will no longer be the whipping boys to increase the corporate profits of the power industry up. Workers need also their fair share now,” Corral said.

 

He noted that while it is difficult to obtain a wage adjustment in Congress and the regional wage boards, it is so easy for the power sector to obtain an increase in their power rates before the ERC.

 

“The ERC even allows Meralco (Manila Electric Company) to charge its customers for future expenditures and projected operational costs, three years into the future. In effect, the consumer is made to advance for the capital expenditures of Meralco," Corral said.

 

The TUCP-Nagkaisa decried the failure of the PSALM to factor in the case of the illegally terminated NPC employees.

 

“Under their Operational Management Agreement, PSALM is in charge of maintaining the assets to answer for the stranded costs of NPC. The biggest elephant in the room was the pending Supreme Court case involving the workers of the NPC. It was the biggest item that would have to be paid,” TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

 

He said the TUCP-Nagkaisa expressed alarm that some of the solutions listed by the DOE are gas turbines and diesel-powered generation sets.

 

“This will drive the power rates up. We have already advised DOE to do tariff simulations first because the power crisis cannot just be defined as a lack of power supply, it is also about uncompetitive power rates. Ordinary workers and their families are the ones being punished by for the lack of forwards planning of DOE,” Tanjusay said.