Probe starts on allegations of power rates collusion

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has started a probe into allegations of collusion or abuse of dominance on the series of power plant shutdowns, which may have been the reason for increased electricity rates. 

“The recent spate of scheduled and forced outages in Luzon by different power plants has reportedly reduced power reserves, caused calls for red or yellow alerts and induced rotating brownouts, which in turn sparked complaints from the public. The PCC shall assess whether the recent power plants’ outages are manipulated to increase electricity prices or are valid unplanned breakdowns that affect supply conditions,” the PCC said in a statement yesterday. 

Under the Philippine Competition Act, the PCC has the mandate to prohibit anti-competitive behavior to ensure consumer interest is not put at risk. –  With Danessa Rivera