Philippine Senate to Investigate Surging Power Rates Amid Grid Alerts

Senator Raffy Tulfo has initiated a call for a Senate investigation concerning the alarming increase in electricity rates during recent red and yellow alerts across the Philippines’ power grids. Set for May 6, the public hearing aims to scrutinize the sudden spike in power costs that has impacted consumers in Luzon and Visayas significantly.

Following consecutive alerts, electricity rates in Luzon surged to P13.39 per kilowatt-hour, a steep climb from the usual P5.55, while in the Visayas, rates jumped from P5.73 to P14.64 per kilowatt-hour. These spikes have occurred alongside power plant outages and unscheduled shutdowns, raising questions about the adequacy of the current power supply system to meet consumer demand.

Senators Risa Hontiveros, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Francis Escudero also expressed concerns regarding these unjustified power outages and the burden of higher electricity bills on consumers. The upcoming Senate investigation, led by Tulfo, who chairs the chamber’s committee on energy, seeks to uncover the root causes of these supply shortages and rate increases to ensure that such incidents do not unjustly affect innocent consumers in the future.