The Power for People Coalition (P4P) is concerned over the misleading depiction of coal as the cheapest energy source available to the country in a recent hearing at the House of Representatives.
In a hearing of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability on the billing shock experienced by customers of the Manila Electric Co. in May and June, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez rebuked the distribution utility for adding natural gas, instead of exclusively using coal, for its baseload requirements as coal is allegedly cheaper.
“We are glad that Congress is finally holding Meralco accountable for securing power contracts that would generate least cost rates. This is something that P4P has advocated for so long. We, however, are concerned that the use of mistaken information about coal in the hearing would cause consumers more harm than good,” said Gerry Arances, P4P convenor.
In recent years, coal has been under fire globally for its contributions to the climate crisis, increasing costs in operating coal power plants, and vulnerability of electricity prices to demand and supply changes, among other factors which has led some countries to abandon it as a source of energy.
“The Philippines has some of the highest electricity rates in Asia but using more coal will only drive up prices more. As of 2019, coal occupies the largest share in our national power mix at 38 percent. There is nearly 6 GW (gigawatts) of coal in Luzon alone, which is almost double the 3.5 GW installed capacity of natural gas in the same area. Much of the high generation costs that Meralco charges from its consumers comes from coal,” Arances explained.
