By Atty. Egay Uy
ENGINEER David Tauli, formerly the vice president for engineering services of the local electric distribution company, and currently an active cog in consumer groups that are constantly keeping watch over the charges of electric companies, recently came up with some pronouncements showing a possible overcharging by generation firms which us, the lowly power users pay.
Engr. Tauli says electric power is being sold and bought without the benefit of competitive procurement to the detriment of end-users.
This prompted me to check the details of my unbundled electric bills. I will discuss here just a few items in the bill.
If the allegations of Engr. Tauli were true, and I am inclined to believe so, then we, the lowly end-users are absorbing all those shenanigans by players in the power industry.
Aside from the unrecoverable value-added tax, end-users also ultimately absorb even those expenses that should have been absorbed by big industry players, the generation, transmission, and distribution companies.
For one, why should we, the lowly power users for household use, be made to pay for missionary electrification, i.e., bringing electricity to far-flung areas not reached by transmission grids. Isn't this the obligation of those in the power sector if not by the government?
Why should residential power users be made to pay for the electrification of areas that are not served by franchisees? Don't their franchises require them to extend their distribution services to all corners of their franchise areas?
Sadly, the allegations of overcharging seem to fall on deaf ears. Aren't the regulatory bodies of the power industry mandated to safeguard the interests of not only the power players, but of end-users, and with equal intensity, as well?
It is a fact that the energy regulatory body has ordered the refund of extra collections made by generation and distribution utilities in the past. Whether or not those extra charges were actually and correctly refunded is one thing worth looking into closely.
There is no question that battling the players in the electric power industry is a gargantuan task. But we have the likes of Engr. Tauli and the consumer groups could put an end to what appears to be an abusive power play.
