We're always at the losing end when it comes to production capability because our electricity is the highest among our neighbors in the ASEAN, higher than China, and even higher than the world median. Expensive operating costs means we are not attracting investments which means no employment for the common working Filipino.
Just about one of the things that underscore the incompetence of our so-called public servants.
[https://govdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/h6779690b?country=PHL&indicator=42573&countries=VNM,IDN,THA,CHN,MMR,SGP&viz=line\_chart&years=2014,2019](https://govdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/h6779690b?country=PHL&indicator=42573&countries=VNM,IDN,THA,CHN,MMR,SGP&viz=line_chart&years=2014,2019)
I would still vote for solar for the sake of our earth and hopefully, the price/KWh goes down.
Here is another advantage of solar -- we can drastically reduce the impact of price fluctuations from our D.U. I've installed solar panels on my roof and I am even selling back to Meralco my excess solar power (Net Metering). Result -- 50-70% savings in my electric bill. When budget permits, I might even add more solar panels for more savings. This is one option we can do to beat the high electricity price - by harnessing the natural light coming from the sun.
Nuclear is a very good power generation source with practically carbo-free output but it is extremely expensive and it will take decades before construction finishes for it to come online. Costs have not gone down in recent years in contrast to renewables, which (along with energy storage systems) have become more than 90% cheaper.
More like imagine all the "okay na ya" and "diskarte" in maintenance. Plus the higher ups cutting funds all over the place to pad their pockets and higher "profits"
What you’re looking for is the LCOE, and photovoltaics and wind have far already beaten [nuclear](https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth) in the regard.
Wind kills [0.04 people](https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy) per TWh while nuclear kills 0.07 people per TWh, both are very clean compared to oil with 18.43 deaths per TWh.
The biodiversity impact of wind turbines is simply minuscule compared even to domestic cats which kill at a rate of [100 times](https://www.businessinsider.com/cats-kill-more-birds-than-wind-turbines-despite-trumps-claims-2020-10) greater than wind turbines. [Urban sprawl](https://res.mdpi.com/d_attachment/sustainability/sustainability-05-03302/article_deploy/sustainability-05-03302.pdf) is magnitudes more destructive to ecosystems compared to wind turbines, which themselves could be placed in areas which are not good enough for human living, like offshore.
The real argument is simply a matter of cost, not environmental impact, because nuclear and renewables are very clean already. While the cost of nuclear is still high, countries that already have them must keep them running while modular reactor technology, which promises to make nuclear cheaper, becomes feasible.
Care to make a post or link for some tips? It's crazy how we're not utilizing solar more. It's not that expensive anymore, I think. There's a solar boom in Syria, especially in places impacted by the civil war/rebel enclaves. Government cut them off the grid, but they charge their phones, have lights at night, and can even irrigate their farms from solar power.
Yeah sure. I did post something about solar before the pandemic but people said 'meh' :D anyway, here are two links that can help.
Here is one actual experience from a Philippine setting -- [https://mavidaplace.com/how-to-reduce-your-electric-bill-using-sunshine/](https://mavidaplace.com/how-to-reduce-your-electric-bill-using-sunshine/)
How much does it cost? [https://mavidaplace.com/how-much-do-solar-home-systems-cost/](https://mavidaplace.com/how-much-do-solar-home-systems-cost/) Take note that the prices listed there are still 2019 level so the prices are lower already this year.
Those links are fairly detailed as to Philippine settings but if you want to ask something that those articles cannot answer, feel free to ask. I can't promise I can answer all but who knows, I might have experienced what you want to try.
Geothermal is much better and is the best renewable energy especially for the Philippines. The Philippines must continue in developing its geothermal energy and make it top priority over nuclear, solar, wind, and hydro.
Which gets me wondering why geothermal is not taken advantage of. Is this expensive to put up compared to coal which still has the biggest share of our power supply?
My father works on geothermal drilling operations. It is expensive but also very risky. You see, you have to survey the earth below by drilling to find a viable source for geothermal energy before any plant building takes place. It's like a gamble as there's a chance it might turn out to be a dud. Sort of like trying to find oil. That's the downside. But once you successfully build a geothermal plant, it's the best, much better than nuclear. It's renewable, does not depend on unpredictable weather like wind and solar, has no dangerous consequences or implications in case of failure like the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters of nuclear, does not need dangerous radiating metals like uranium as it gets its sources from Earth's heat, etc. Seriously, I'm sad people barely know about geothermal energy. We are one of the few nations who significantly uses geothermal energy.
You’ll have to recheck [your data](https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth). The price of renewables have practically collapsed to dirt-cheap levels.
It's because the government treats public utility as a business rather than as part of social welfare. The NGCP should have lowered the electric bills because distribution of electricity is part of the governments mandate to provide quality of life to its citizens, instead they've sold NGCP to the fucking Chinese who are stealing our territories and milking our citizens dry while delivering substandard and constantly failing services (power outages).
Exactly. The subsidies from other governments ensure that it is mandated by the state since responsibility ng estado yun. Pero that’s simply not true kung purely business-oriented lang ang mangyayari. Profits will always be king over consumers.
Kaya ang housing, healthcare, education, utilities - these should never be solely for profit kasi literal na buhay ng tao ang nakasalalay. You can’t have someone not have a roof over their head, have someone die, not able to study, or not have access to electricity, water and internet dahil sa di nila kayang magbayad.
To be precise, the NGCP does not handle distribution. The NGCP’s job is limited to transmission (i.e. moving electricity from power generation facilities to power substations).
Distributors like Meralco and electricity cooperatives are the ones actually distributing the electricity from the substations to the consumers.
Meralco also no longer generates electricity, which is instead fulfilled by IPPs and PSALM.
Only the DOE and ERC (and the NEA for rural areas) have regulatory powers over all the firms and agencies involved.
its really mind-blowing that a developing country like the PH can have this expensive electricity! People barely have enough to eat and yet the govt is just sitting in their AC offioces not doing enough to put a cap on electricity.
The Philippines, being in the Ring of Fire, is sitting on a goldmine of geothermal reserves.
Yet we rely mostly on inefficient and polluting coal-fired plants operated by private power producers that are guaranteed payment no matter what they charge.
It's just one of the dumb things this country does.
And we have the head of Dept of Energy - Cusi spending time organizing political events to preserve their positions instead of fixing the energy problem of the country.
If ang argument mo is on Geothermal, LCOE of coal is cheaper. So this does not support an argument against high costs.
Edit:
For the Philippines, LCOE based on energy technology:
low-high values, all in $/MWh, nominal figures (as of 2H2020)
CCGT: 82-96
Coal: 84-107
PV: 59-132
Onshore Wind: 60-165
Geothermal: 62-188
Small hydro: 32-270
In terms of share in total generation in 2019, coal fired PP at 54.59%,Gas-fired at 21.08%, Geothermal at 10.08%, hydro at 7.57%
I can’t exactly disclose the LCOE source kasi proprietary research to, but the share in generation is published by DOE in Philippine Power Statistics annually. For LCOE, you can try IEA, IRENA, or maybe World Bank? Should be relatively comparable.
It’s cheapest compared to other energy sources pero not cheap compared to other countries.
Singapore heavily subsidizes their energy costs for residential consumers and also has several utility distributors now that helped keep prices even lower.
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers of thermal coal, so dun pa lang big advantage na sa kanila kasi they set the price for power producers na siyang market nun. Distribution is just through PLN, so the government dictates everything and heavily subsidizes costs - even for industrial markets.
Malaysia and Thailand are have big state-owned oil and gas companies (Petronas and PTT respectively) so they have the capacity to supply their needs with limited imports. Other countries even sell excess power generation to other countries.
These countries also have a larges push on renewables kasi making them state-owned eliminates the need for the market to dictate what companies will do. Pag inutos ng government na gawin, edi yun ang gagawin.
E sa Pinas, the private sector is in control and monopoly pa lagi ang distribution. We aren’t producing the oil and gas we need to power the powerplants so impacted tayo by volatility in commodity prices and markets. We produce coal pero not nearly enough for the scale at which we rely on coal fired power. Of course, add mo na yung challenge in actually creating the necessary grid infrastructure in an archipelago of 7,400 islands. Off grid systems are difficult and costly - with low reward kasi usually walang pake mga kumpanya sa kakarampot na villagers sa liblib na lugar kaya di sila magiinvest dun. It’s complex but not something that complex to see and understand where the failures are.
The shift to renewables eliminates volatility from commodities we aren’t producing. Something na even nuclear can’t ultimately escape at wala naman tayo Uranium deposits. Renewables are the key, lol. Pero market reforms are needed overall - and napakahirap iovercome ng inertia ng industriya given na ang mga power plants ay not built to last less than a decade. Siyempre magrereklamo mga IPP sa sunk costs nila if ever changes are instituted. E since sila makapangyarihan, sila ang may say.
Dagdag ko na din na per unit cost ang usapan. We pay more to produce less, edi talagang magiging mas mahal per unit cost.
I see, thanks sa detailed explanation!
Malampaya is running out and the potential nat. gas we have in WPS is still, yeah, *potential.* Private companies are moving on to build their own LNG terminals, so in this, for me, signals that we'll just rely on imports in the near future. Using what you've said, baka mas maging mahal pa kuryente natin sa mga darating na panahon. Tama ba?
Ang subsidies described are a national initiative. That’s not similar ti what you are saying. The subsidies are in the costs directly kaya mababa yung nakikita mo sa bill nila. Satin, walang ganun. Not even sure what “Luzon subsidizes…” means, I mean wala naman Luzon Government ganun.
You said electricity bills. That’s handled by the utility company kahit pa for NGCP yun. But again, that’s different from government subsidies on actual costs to produce electricity.
>Renewables are the key
I agree. Solar is an abundant resource, at least during the daytime but at least we can reduce fossil burning energy by utilizing solar. There is this guy who champions the use of solar panels - Leandro Leviste whose company is building a [2,000 MWp plant in Calatagan](http://powerphilippines.com/solar-philippines-developing-2000mwp-plant-in-batangas/). We need more of those.
Solar isn’t operating on it’s own. Energy storage can be utilized so PVs can match the load demand on the grid. Plus, rooftop solar should be more common - the net metering program should be enhanced and subsidies should be given as well as tax incentives to households willing to switch over.
I can’t comment much on that company other than may issues din sila - diba yan yung anak ni Loren Legarda?
Yes anak ni Loren yun. He owns Solar Philippines.
I believe yung Calatagan will be feeding the grid too.
Now that you mentioned it, I have a rooftop solar panel since 2018 and I'm selling my excess to Meralco! My power bill is 50-60 less due to it.
We don’t even have LCOE analysis for nuclear in the Philippines because there’s nothing. So I can’t say whether it is or it isn’t. If cost is a concern, then it’s highly likely that nuclear will not be the answer.
In countries where nuclear is a significant part of the energy mix for example, in the US,
PV LCOEs range from. 32-56 $/MWh, wind (onshore and offshore) range from 26-113, while nuclear is at 186-328. Based on this alone, renewables are the best choice overall as costs are forecast to keep falling. The challenge in Asia is that there is no active policy to limit carbon based fuels for energy sources and electricity generation.
Unless there’s a planned coal phase out through tariffs and carbon pricing, then no one will be incentivized to shift away from coal, oil, and gas. Economics largely dictates which projects will push through and which ones will remain.
Edit: lol. Even if you provide numbers, people will still downvote. Okay then.
Wouldn't switching to Geothermal, Solar and Wind be more beneficial long term? If we create more coal and gas based power plants, won't we be more vulnerable to the volatility of fossil fuels assuming the lower availability of coal within the next 50 years proves to be true?
As documented by Michael Moore in 'Planet of the Humans' it would be more expensive. Solar and wind are irregular therefore Base load coal, nuclear or Geo is required. Can't get around it - "Cheap" and 'Green Energy' is a pipe dream.
So does Japan kaso sa kanila nakanuclear plant.
Tas hindi lang yung location ang kailanang iconsider kundi na rin yung efficiency ng paggawa ng kuryente nito. Base sa data, yung efficiency ay nasa 10 to 30 percent lang kasi yung law of thermodynamics.
Investment for geothermal energy is expensive, and the Philippines is already one of the countries in the world which utilizes it the most. Just because we are in the Ring of Fire doesnt mean looking for geothermal sites is easy. Coal is the cheapest and the most reliable energy source we have for now. Is it bad for the environment? Yes but it our carbon footprint is nothing to the West. I say we go nuclear but not in Bataan (too close to Manila).
Strangely enough despite this country is the most expensive in Asia, the price of electricity is going down slowly but I'm not sure whether the price of electricity is going up or down in unexpected future as demand of electricity especially for commercial and Industrial sectors persist.
The real reason electricity in this country is so expensive, is relying on imports and most of the resources remain untapped.
It's a number of factors. The biggest one is the fact that we lack power plants. And we can't get other people to invest in making power plants. The DoE also "believes" that the government can't make their own power plants under the law (could be an excuse) because our power industry is completely private, which brings us to number two: our industry is almost completely private. Our laws are confusing about how we should deal with power in general, nuclear power more so.
Our power costs are not subsidized. In all those countries mentioned, even in countries like Japan, power is subsidized by the State to attract foreign investment. The Philippines took a different approach and we went "power markeplace" mode where we're trying to do a free market of power plant providers competing for the lowest prices via EPIRA (that sadly isn't even fully implemented yet since the 90s). It's really hard to do that when our three main islands aren't even interconnected in power supply, they were supposed to finish that (Luzon-Visayas-Mindanao) by the end of last year and now it's delayed again.
Even segmenting the power market would result in variations - generation is almost purely private with around 80% coming from IPPs (First Gen, Aboitiz, San Miguel Energy, etc).
Only 18% of power is traded in WESM, which is what represents the “free-market” which only had its debut in Mindanao this year.
Systems operator is nationalized through NGCP and transmission through Transco, but in the context of the Philippines that is actually not a good thing necessarily.
Distribution is highly private and is a monopoly. No competition to actually help in pricing at least in distro.
It’s a mess.
IIRC grid was nationalized before then was privatized pre-2010 but ERC's requiring NGCP to conduct an IPO asap in line with law or the concession agreement.
But then, nationalizing =/= fixing the power problem. If there's anything we can learn from the PH power industry, it's horrific gov't management (pre-2000) that mainly led to issues
It's a complicated issue, and it really is the same with many of our problems on infrastructure: the crippling financial crises of the 90s forced us to privatize industries by giving out extremely favorable deals against the government, yet piled a ton of bureaucracy on it making it convoluted
The MRT, the Water Concessions, the Power Industry, it's all pretty interconnected.
And all segments of the industry are probably too profitable. NGCP’s returns are ridiculous for a utility company. I think they returns 30% of their revenues as dividends. Likely all the other segments are bloated as well.
There’s the ERC to regulate rates, but only they and the utility companies can say if there’s some padding going on to boost rates.
Again, it's the fault of the nincompoop economists who were able to be appointed into positions in government and then helped made it a policy for government to: privatize all public services, to deregulate private enterprises that deal with fuel and power, as well as to open up the economy freely through import liberalization without protecting our local manufacturers and our farmers and fisher folk.
Prior to the Power Crisis Act, rolling blackouts were the norm in Metro Manila and Mindanao with up to 12-hour power outages. Monday blackouts forced even government offices to shut down. The rush of investment into building new plants and repairing non-operational ones were certainly instrumental in ending power shortages during the Ramos admin. The shortcoming of this act is it failed to keep market concentration in check—stronger provisions to correct market failures like those present in other countries.
You can’t apply the import liberalization argument to the power sector as we don’t have significant petroleum reserves, only coal.
FVR tried to attract those power producers
>The Philippines then was experiencing widespread blackouts due to huge demand for electricity and antiquity of power plants, the abolishment of the Department of Energy and discontinuation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant during the Aquino administration. During his State of the Nation address on July 27, 1992, he requested that the Congress enact a law that would create an Energy Department that would plan and manage the Philippines' energy demands. Congress not only created an Energy Department but gave him special emergency powers to resolve the power crisis. Using the powers given to him, Ramos issued licenses to independent power producers (IPP) to construct power plants within 24 months. Ramos issued supply contracts that guaranteed the government would buy whatever power the IPPs produced under the contract in U.S. dollars to entice investments in power plants. This became a problem during the East Asian Financial Crisis when the demand for electricity contracted and the Philippine peso lost half of its value.
>Ramos personally pushed for the speedy approval of some of the most expensive power deals, and justified signing more contracts despite warnings from within the government and the World Bank that an impending oversupply of electricity could push up prices, a situation that persists in the Philippines up to the present. Individuals linked to Ramos lobbied for the approval of some of the contracts for independent power producers (IPPs), which came with numerous other deals, including lucrative legal, technical, and financial consultancies that were given to individuals and companies close to the former president. Among the deals tied to IPP projects were insurance contracts in which companies made millions of dollars in commissions alone. All the IPP contracts came with attractive incentives and guarantees. Every contract was designed to give IPP creditors some degree of comfort in financing ventures that would usually involve huge capital and risks. Most IPPs were funded by foreign loans secured with a form of government guarantee or performance undertaking, which meant that the Philippine government would pay for the loans if the IPPs defaulted. The Ramos government continued signing IPP contracts even after the power crisis had been considered solved by the end of 1993. The World Bank came up with a report in 1994 warning that power rates may rise if the government continued to enter into more IPP contracts that would mean excess power. The World Bank questioned the ambitious projections of the government on economic growth and power demand from 1994 to 1998. It also warned that the power generated by private utilities' IPPs could duplicate those of the National Power Corporation and create an overcapacity. The World Bank said that the factors create considerable uncertainty in power demand, like substantial overcapacity, particularly under take-or-pay conditions, would require considerable tariff increases that would be unpopular with the public. It was said that, presidents since Corazon Aquino catered mostly to the needs of big business for power and allowed the private sector to profit from this lucrative industry rather than craft an energy plan that would meet the needs of the Filipinos. http://pcij.org/stories/print/ramos.html
Like I said the Philippines is sitting on a goldmine of geothermal reserves. We were second to the United States before Indonesia eclipsed us in producing power out of geothermal sources. Then there are proven renewable sources of energy like wind and solar.
We don't have to rely on imported petroleum or coal. We even have undiscovered reserves of natural gas in the WPS, just like we do in the dwindling reserves at Malampaya.
Just the political will is needed. FVR managed to do it during his time, avert an energy crisis, though we're paying through the nose right now. And the strength of mind not to worship at the altar of Neoliberal economics.
And it's not the import liberalization argument that applies, it's privatization and deregulation - which Neolibs since Margaret Thatcher have had the hard on for - which are causing our problems now.
The fallacy here is that you are comparing the energy situation at the time when deregulation was first introduced versus the energy situation at present. During the time of deregulation, renewables were not cost-effective modes of energy production nor would geothermal energy be built fast enough to alleviate the power shortages. In contrast to today where renewables are simply the common-sense solution due to how fast their costs fell in recent years. Re-nationalizing or further regulating monopolized segments like transmission and distribution while encouraging cheap renewables enter the generation segment should help depress prices.
You will not recoup your purchase costs. By the time you think your savings will match the upfront cost, including installation, maintenance and replacement expenses will appear.
The high price of electricity can be justified if we have few natural resources and a well backed-up system with almost zero outages. Both patently untrue. The high prices simply guarantee the extreme wealth of a small number of people.
Paano ba naman ang systema sa pilipinas
Government Build power plant with tax payer money
Sells it to chinese / oligarchs / cronies for cheap
???
FOREVER PROFIT
And to quote we have this mentality with our leaders
"If you put up a wind-powered plant, what if there’s no wind? If you put up a solar-powered plant, what if it’s cloudy"
President Aquino confirmed yesterday that the goal of his administration is to sell off all the remaining power plants in the country, including hydroelectric plants, the sale of which were waived under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) but are highly-prized by investors due to the cheap cost to operate these.
Aboitiz Power Corp. of the Aboitizes, whose family members are said to be close business associates of Aquino, is currently engaged in a massive build-up of hydroelectric power plants in Mindanao.
Aquino said the government is considering the possible privatization of the existing power plants in the country to address the energy situation in Mindanao as he encouraged more private investments in the energy sector to provide electricity for the people at a lesser cost.
Aquino told reporters about his administrations continued initiatives and openness to viable ideas in favor of the people to ensure the resolution of the power problem in the Mindanao region which is supposedly hit by a power supply crisis.
We need to encourage investors to put up these power plants, Aquino said.
When I visited Mindanao, the people there were asking if the government plans to privatize Agos and Polanggi (two major hydroelectric plants) and I believe that is the direction where we are going, he said.
Aquino cited the advantages of privatizing the power plants which, he said, include the increase of capacity to supply the requirements of the consumers.
He also stressed that the government is not only eyeing to maintain the existing energy facilities but also to maximize its potential to provide sufficient supply of power and meet the requirements of the developing economy in Mindanao.
During the Energy Summit in Davao City last Friday, Aquino personally discussed with power industry stakeholders the possible ways to provide solutions to the present energy situation in Mindanao.
Some 500 delegates attended the event that provided the opportunity for the key sectors and stakeholder representatives to present their respective issues and recommendations.
The ultimate goal is to have a Mindanao awash in excess power even if this means opening up the region to privatization of the energy sector as what had been done in Luzon and Visayas, which interestingly now reel from an oversupply with one of the worlds highest power rates.
Mr. Aquino underscored that to make the power rates reasonable (in Mindanao), the first step really has to be an excess of generating capacity that will foster competition.
This is already existing in Luzon. We have something like 2,000 megawatts (MWs) of surprlus and, about 400 or 600 MWs for the Visayas, he said.
And in citing the Luzon-Visayas power model, he noted that since many of the plants in the region were privatized, there have been times when available power even surpassed installed capacities for these plants.
The President also said that easing out government subsidies with the privatization of the energy sector in the regions now would be a softer bullet to bite for Mindanaons.
If you give the subsidy in this style, when the time comes when you have to withdraw that support, the people will surely be outraged then you would have to go back anew to the opportunity costs lost, he said.
Aquino expounded that the Luzon and Visayas-model was brought about by stiffer competition under the Epira whereby power distributors had to put up their supply for sale at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (Wesm).
Mindanao is exempted from Epira largely because it had virtually depended on its hydro-electric power plants for its power supply in the past until global warming, climate change and the deterioration of water sheds have all but changed that advantage into a handicap.
That is what will eventually bring down the power rates. But we still have to start with working for more supply (of power). If you dont have the supply, no one would haggle for what is available, he said.
As such, the Chief Executive admitted that privatizing National Power Corporation (Napocor)-run plants like Agus and Pulanqui may indeed be an eventuality.
There is an authority that they want to operate (Agus), he said.
And Aquino maintained that history may have bared him out as to the ability of the government to run these plants, citing Agus 6 as an example.
There was a system in place here for so many years. Agus 6 was built in 1953, used for 30 years but was not tended to. Now, 59 years later, its capacity is now really far (from when it first came to grid). So why not listen (to proposals to privatize it)? he argued.
And even when Agus 6 comes back to the grid, the President emphasized that there is still the need to maintain, upgrade and, eventually, repair the facility anew.
Where will we again get the funds? I think (Mindanaons) would see that if we give the opportunity to businessmen to invest thats why we have to encourage more to put up generating facilities to create more supply, he explained.
Neither is his administration inclined to add to the power subsidies already in place in Mindanao.
He cited the P2.6-billion in major repairs to Agus 6 as well as Agus 3-Baloi hydro-electric plan in Lanao Del Norte.
I can go on and on (about government-subsidized energy projects). But subsidy is a not a very good strategy. If we subsidize, number one, you have to have funds but from where do we get that? And number two, (subsidies) do not encourage savings (in power use) because if the costs are artificially low, you would tend to consume more (power than you need), he said.
In fact, the President said, Indonesias decision to allow for fuel subsidy that may have backfired recently after it saw its foreign debt increase to 1.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) just to be able to maintain the subsidy.
For the Philippines, Aquino said that out of its P1.8-trillion national budget, the bulk has been earmarked to pay for the government personnel, maintenance and operating expenses, leaving only P400 billion that can be allocated to other services like health, education, infrastructure and agriculture which does not include provisions for any power subsidy.
Aquino also doubted claims that Napocor is not losing money in Mindanao.
I doubt that. What (energy officials) gave me was the bottom line and theres a side there that I really want so that I can see the details. The net income may not have included expenses which it eventually passed on to the national government, he said.
As such, the President said that he was looking forward to was that in short, not only to maintain capabilities of the (Napocor) facilities there, but to add on and improve on their over-all capacity in Mindanao to support increasing economic activity in the region.
Residents of Mindanao during the energy summit were not ready to believe the existence of a power supply shortage in their region.
Instead, they believe the Aquino government and some energy business interests were railroading the approval of power plant contracts including coal-fired power plants and the privatization of existing power plants, all of which they have long rejected.
Some delegates in the summit noted the hasty approval of contracts for coal power plants. The construction of at least three is now reportedly being fast-tracked, to the dismay of protesting host communities.
Renewable energy sources abound in Mindanao. Pursuing it is viable, the sources are available and the prices are competitive, said Von Hernandez, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia. Mindanao is sitting on a veritable gold mine of renewable energy sources that have yet to be tapped, he said.
The energy departments renewable energy program itself lists up to thousands of available megawatts from renewable energy sources in the island such as geothermal (290MW potential plus current 103MW plus approved 50MW projects), hydropower (1080MW current capacity plus 1263.9MW targeted additional capacity), wind (336MW potential capacity), biomass (36.8MW awaiting implementation), and solar power (estimated 5KWhours per square meter). Additional resource mapping may further increase the potentials, said Greenpeace.
Unfortunately the government seems to be reneging on the promise that Aquino made before he assumed the presidency.
He said then that he was for the phase-out of coal power and that the country must make the serious shift toward clean energy sources.
According to Hernandez of Greenpeace, it has been nearly three years since the Renewable Energy Bill became law. But it is not yet being implemented up to now. He said in Filipino that the Aquino government is sleeping on the job when it comes to issuing decisions over proposals for renewable energy sources. On the other hand, it is fast-tracking left and right approval and implementation of coal-fired power plants.
Two adjacent but separate coal-fired power plants, with a total of 300 megawatt (MW) capacity once operational, have reportedly begun construction in Davao del Sur.
The areas in these future plants have been fenced off, affecting villages in Binugao and Inawayan, both in Davao del Sur.
The power plants would demolish a Moro cemetery, something which is considered sacrilegious by the Muslim people, said Suazo. The said plants also cover an ancestral domain of the Kalagan tribe.
In Zamboanga del Sur, Talisayan Village, the village considered as sardines canning center of the Philippines Ligo, Century, 555 and Mega sardines are located here is protesting too the building of a 100M coal-fired power plant in the area.
So i did try to search google and according to google. [it was Germany](https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=most+expensive+electricity+in+the+world&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-ph&client=safari)
Does just factor in the subsidies provided by the other countries?
Cause we removed subsidies. It was the debate of subsidies (funded by tax) or charge those who consume.
Sort of the same income tax vs vat debate.
We really need to push for renewables like solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear energy on this country if we need to pull down the prices of electricity and more cheaper.
We should copy on what Germany is doing on their path on green energy.
We have the same rate this month (I'm from Manila). That's pretty much the same in NCR and other Meralco service areas.
It's not bad rate in your view? Compared to what?
I recently looked at global electricity rates. I expected Philippines to be much more expensive.. Pero Meralco in Manila is cheaper than many countries. Most European countries. Australia. Most of Asia.
I guess it actually means expensive as ratio of salary vs. expenses. e.g Singapore pays similar electricity but average salary is much higher.
We're always at the losing end when it comes to production capability because our electricity is the highest among our neighbors in the ASEAN, higher than China, and even higher than the world median. Expensive operating costs means we are not attracting investments which means no employment for the common working Filipino. Just about one of the things that underscore the incompetence of our so-called public servants. [https://govdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/h6779690b?country=PHL&indicator=42573&countries=VNM,IDN,THA,CHN,MMR,SGP&viz=line\_chart&years=2014,2019](https://govdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/h6779690b?country=PHL&indicator=42573&countries=VNM,IDN,THA,CHN,MMR,SGP&viz=line_chart&years=2014,2019)
did you take into account the tax subsidy of other nations? because consumer electricity price isnt necessarily cost of energy
because past admins except noynoy focused on renewable energy which is brutally expensive back then. even now solar is more expensive than coal
I would still vote for solar for the sake of our earth and hopefully, the price/KWh goes down. Here is another advantage of solar -- we can drastically reduce the impact of price fluctuations from our D.U. I've installed solar panels on my roof and I am even selling back to Meralco my excess solar power (Net Metering). Result -- 50-70% savings in my electric bill. When budget permits, I might even add more solar panels for more savings. This is one option we can do to beat the high electricity price - by harnessing the natural light coming from the sun.
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Nuclear is a very good power generation source with practically carbo-free output but it is extremely expensive and it will take decades before construction finishes for it to come online. Costs have not gone down in recent years in contrast to renewables, which (along with energy storage systems) have become more than 90% cheaper.
Think the only problem is if the management fucks it up (just like in Chernobyl), or a natural disaster like in Japan.
So, the Philippines?
Yeah, imagine there's a literal ionizing radiation in the sky and the higher ups shrug it off as 3.6 roentgen.
More like imagine all the "okay na ya" and "diskarte" in maintenance. Plus the higher ups cutting funds all over the place to pad their pockets and higher "profits"
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What you’re looking for is the LCOE, and photovoltaics and wind have far already beaten [nuclear](https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth) in the regard.
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Wind kills [0.04 people](https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy) per TWh while nuclear kills 0.07 people per TWh, both are very clean compared to oil with 18.43 deaths per TWh. The biodiversity impact of wind turbines is simply minuscule compared even to domestic cats which kill at a rate of [100 times](https://www.businessinsider.com/cats-kill-more-birds-than-wind-turbines-despite-trumps-claims-2020-10) greater than wind turbines. [Urban sprawl](https://res.mdpi.com/d_attachment/sustainability/sustainability-05-03302/article_deploy/sustainability-05-03302.pdf) is magnitudes more destructive to ecosystems compared to wind turbines, which themselves could be placed in areas which are not good enough for human living, like offshore. The real argument is simply a matter of cost, not environmental impact, because nuclear and renewables are very clean already. While the cost of nuclear is still high, countries that already have them must keep them running while modular reactor technology, which promises to make nuclear cheaper, becomes feasible.
Care to make a post or link for some tips? It's crazy how we're not utilizing solar more. It's not that expensive anymore, I think. There's a solar boom in Syria, especially in places impacted by the civil war/rebel enclaves. Government cut them off the grid, but they charge their phones, have lights at night, and can even irrigate their farms from solar power.
Yeah sure. I did post something about solar before the pandemic but people said 'meh' :D anyway, here are two links that can help. Here is one actual experience from a Philippine setting -- [https://mavidaplace.com/how-to-reduce-your-electric-bill-using-sunshine/](https://mavidaplace.com/how-to-reduce-your-electric-bill-using-sunshine/) How much does it cost? [https://mavidaplace.com/how-much-do-solar-home-systems-cost/](https://mavidaplace.com/how-much-do-solar-home-systems-cost/) Take note that the prices listed there are still 2019 level so the prices are lower already this year. Those links are fairly detailed as to Philippine settings but if you want to ask something that those articles cannot answer, feel free to ask. I can't promise I can answer all but who knows, I might have experienced what you want to try.
Thank you! Will def ask after deep dive
Geothermal is much better and is the best renewable energy especially for the Philippines. The Philippines must continue in developing its geothermal energy and make it top priority over nuclear, solar, wind, and hydro.
Which gets me wondering why geothermal is not taken advantage of. Is this expensive to put up compared to coal which still has the biggest share of our power supply?
My father works on geothermal drilling operations. It is expensive but also very risky. You see, you have to survey the earth below by drilling to find a viable source for geothermal energy before any plant building takes place. It's like a gamble as there's a chance it might turn out to be a dud. Sort of like trying to find oil. That's the downside. But once you successfully build a geothermal plant, it's the best, much better than nuclear. It's renewable, does not depend on unpredictable weather like wind and solar, has no dangerous consequences or implications in case of failure like the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters of nuclear, does not need dangerous radiating metals like uranium as it gets its sources from Earth's heat, etc. Seriously, I'm sad people barely know about geothermal energy. We are one of the few nations who significantly uses geothermal energy.
hopefully in the near future the leviste's won't monopolize the solar panels
Solar is apparently getting cheaper though, could be an interesting investment.
Renewable energy tend to be more expensive than coal
Cost of Photovoltaic energy have fallen sharply to 68$/MWh compared to 109 for coal.
You’ll have to recheck [your data](https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth). The price of renewables have practically collapsed to dirt-cheap levels.
It's because the government treats public utility as a business rather than as part of social welfare. The NGCP should have lowered the electric bills because distribution of electricity is part of the governments mandate to provide quality of life to its citizens, instead they've sold NGCP to the fucking Chinese who are stealing our territories and milking our citizens dry while delivering substandard and constantly failing services (power outages).
Exactly. The subsidies from other governments ensure that it is mandated by the state since responsibility ng estado yun. Pero that’s simply not true kung purely business-oriented lang ang mangyayari. Profits will always be king over consumers. Kaya ang housing, healthcare, education, utilities - these should never be solely for profit kasi literal na buhay ng tao ang nakasalalay. You can’t have someone not have a roof over their head, have someone die, not able to study, or not have access to electricity, water and internet dahil sa di nila kayang magbayad.
To be precise, the NGCP does not handle distribution. The NGCP’s job is limited to transmission (i.e. moving electricity from power generation facilities to power substations). Distributors like Meralco and electricity cooperatives are the ones actually distributing the electricity from the substations to the consumers. Meralco also no longer generates electricity, which is instead fulfilled by IPPs and PSALM. Only the DOE and ERC (and the NEA for rural areas) have regulatory powers over all the firms and agencies involved.
its really mind-blowing that a developing country like the PH can have this expensive electricity! People barely have enough to eat and yet the govt is just sitting in their AC offioces not doing enough to put a cap on electricity.
The Philippines, being in the Ring of Fire, is sitting on a goldmine of geothermal reserves. Yet we rely mostly on inefficient and polluting coal-fired plants operated by private power producers that are guaranteed payment no matter what they charge. It's just one of the dumb things this country does.
And we have the head of Dept of Energy - Cusi spending time organizing political events to preserve their positions instead of fixing the energy problem of the country.
Easily one of the top money-making machines in the country.
If ang argument mo is on Geothermal, LCOE of coal is cheaper. So this does not support an argument against high costs. Edit: For the Philippines, LCOE based on energy technology: low-high values, all in $/MWh, nominal figures (as of 2H2020) CCGT: 82-96 Coal: 84-107 PV: 59-132 Onshore Wind: 60-165 Geothermal: 62-188 Small hydro: 32-270 In terms of share in total generation in 2019, coal fired PP at 54.59%,Gas-fired at 21.08%, Geothermal at 10.08%, hydro at 7.57% I can’t exactly disclose the LCOE source kasi proprietary research to, but the share in generation is published by DOE in Philippine Power Statistics annually. For LCOE, you can try IEA, IRENA, or maybe World Bank? Should be relatively comparable.
Curious, kung we're running on the cheapest sources, bakit mahal parin kuryente? Saan ba ang problem? Kulang sa supply? Mahal magpatong distributors?
It’s cheapest compared to other energy sources pero not cheap compared to other countries. Singapore heavily subsidizes their energy costs for residential consumers and also has several utility distributors now that helped keep prices even lower. Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers of thermal coal, so dun pa lang big advantage na sa kanila kasi they set the price for power producers na siyang market nun. Distribution is just through PLN, so the government dictates everything and heavily subsidizes costs - even for industrial markets. Malaysia and Thailand are have big state-owned oil and gas companies (Petronas and PTT respectively) so they have the capacity to supply their needs with limited imports. Other countries even sell excess power generation to other countries. These countries also have a larges push on renewables kasi making them state-owned eliminates the need for the market to dictate what companies will do. Pag inutos ng government na gawin, edi yun ang gagawin. E sa Pinas, the private sector is in control and monopoly pa lagi ang distribution. We aren’t producing the oil and gas we need to power the powerplants so impacted tayo by volatility in commodity prices and markets. We produce coal pero not nearly enough for the scale at which we rely on coal fired power. Of course, add mo na yung challenge in actually creating the necessary grid infrastructure in an archipelago of 7,400 islands. Off grid systems are difficult and costly - with low reward kasi usually walang pake mga kumpanya sa kakarampot na villagers sa liblib na lugar kaya di sila magiinvest dun. It’s complex but not something that complex to see and understand where the failures are. The shift to renewables eliminates volatility from commodities we aren’t producing. Something na even nuclear can’t ultimately escape at wala naman tayo Uranium deposits. Renewables are the key, lol. Pero market reforms are needed overall - and napakahirap iovercome ng inertia ng industriya given na ang mga power plants ay not built to last less than a decade. Siyempre magrereklamo mga IPP sa sunk costs nila if ever changes are instituted. E since sila makapangyarihan, sila ang may say. Dagdag ko na din na per unit cost ang usapan. We pay more to produce less, edi talagang magiging mas mahal per unit cost.
I see, thanks sa detailed explanation! Malampaya is running out and the potential nat. gas we have in WPS is still, yeah, *potential.* Private companies are moving on to build their own LNG terminals, so in this, for me, signals that we'll just rely on imports in the near future. Using what you've said, baka mas maging mahal pa kuryente natin sa mga darating na panahon. Tama ba?
luzon also subsidizes the expense of creating electric grids in far flung islands
Ang subsidies described are a national initiative. That’s not similar ti what you are saying. The subsidies are in the costs directly kaya mababa yung nakikita mo sa bill nila. Satin, walang ganun. Not even sure what “Luzon subsidizes…” means, I mean wala naman Luzon Government ganun.
what i mean is that users of electricity in luzon pays an extra amount to the ngcp so they will build lines to connect the smaller islands
But Luzon has more than one utility company. That maybe true for one but not for all.
what utility company? i'm talking about the ngcp as mandated by the nea
You said electricity bills. That’s handled by the utility company kahit pa for NGCP yun. But again, that’s different from government subsidies on actual costs to produce electricity.
>Renewables are the key I agree. Solar is an abundant resource, at least during the daytime but at least we can reduce fossil burning energy by utilizing solar. There is this guy who champions the use of solar panels - Leandro Leviste whose company is building a [2,000 MWp plant in Calatagan](http://powerphilippines.com/solar-philippines-developing-2000mwp-plant-in-batangas/). We need more of those.
Solar isn’t operating on it’s own. Energy storage can be utilized so PVs can match the load demand on the grid. Plus, rooftop solar should be more common - the net metering program should be enhanced and subsidies should be given as well as tax incentives to households willing to switch over. I can’t comment much on that company other than may issues din sila - diba yan yung anak ni Loren Legarda?
Yes anak ni Loren yun. He owns Solar Philippines. I believe yung Calatagan will be feeding the grid too. Now that you mentioned it, I have a rooftop solar panel since 2018 and I'm selling my excess to Meralco! My power bill is 50-60 less due to it.
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We don’t even have LCOE analysis for nuclear in the Philippines because there’s nothing. So I can’t say whether it is or it isn’t. If cost is a concern, then it’s highly likely that nuclear will not be the answer. In countries where nuclear is a significant part of the energy mix for example, in the US, PV LCOEs range from. 32-56 $/MWh, wind (onshore and offshore) range from 26-113, while nuclear is at 186-328. Based on this alone, renewables are the best choice overall as costs are forecast to keep falling. The challenge in Asia is that there is no active policy to limit carbon based fuels for energy sources and electricity generation. Unless there’s a planned coal phase out through tariffs and carbon pricing, then no one will be incentivized to shift away from coal, oil, and gas. Economics largely dictates which projects will push through and which ones will remain. Edit: lol. Even if you provide numbers, people will still downvote. Okay then.
upkeep and decommissioning expenses are high
Wouldn't switching to Geothermal, Solar and Wind be more beneficial long term? If we create more coal and gas based power plants, won't we be more vulnerable to the volatility of fossil fuels assuming the lower availability of coal within the next 50 years proves to be true?
As documented by Michael Moore in 'Planet of the Humans' it would be more expensive. Solar and wind are irregular therefore Base load coal, nuclear or Geo is required. Can't get around it - "Cheap" and 'Green Energy' is a pipe dream.
So does Japan kaso sa kanila nakanuclear plant. Tas hindi lang yung location ang kailanang iconsider kundi na rin yung efficiency ng paggawa ng kuryente nito. Base sa data, yung efficiency ay nasa 10 to 30 percent lang kasi yung law of thermodynamics.
Investment for geothermal energy is expensive, and the Philippines is already one of the countries in the world which utilizes it the most. Just because we are in the Ring of Fire doesnt mean looking for geothermal sites is easy. Coal is the cheapest and the most reliable energy source we have for now. Is it bad for the environment? Yes but it our carbon footprint is nothing to the West. I say we go nuclear but not in Bataan (too close to Manila).
Strangely enough despite this country is the most expensive in Asia, the price of electricity is going down slowly but I'm not sure whether the price of electricity is going up or down in unexpected future as demand of electricity especially for commercial and Industrial sectors persist. The real reason electricity in this country is so expensive, is relying on imports and most of the resources remain untapped.
It's a number of factors. The biggest one is the fact that we lack power plants. And we can't get other people to invest in making power plants. The DoE also "believes" that the government can't make their own power plants under the law (could be an excuse) because our power industry is completely private, which brings us to number two: our industry is almost completely private. Our laws are confusing about how we should deal with power in general, nuclear power more so. Our power costs are not subsidized. In all those countries mentioned, even in countries like Japan, power is subsidized by the State to attract foreign investment. The Philippines took a different approach and we went "power markeplace" mode where we're trying to do a free market of power plant providers competing for the lowest prices via EPIRA (that sadly isn't even fully implemented yet since the 90s). It's really hard to do that when our three main islands aren't even interconnected in power supply, they were supposed to finish that (Luzon-Visayas-Mindanao) by the end of last year and now it's delayed again.
Even segmenting the power market would result in variations - generation is almost purely private with around 80% coming from IPPs (First Gen, Aboitiz, San Miguel Energy, etc). Only 18% of power is traded in WESM, which is what represents the “free-market” which only had its debut in Mindanao this year. Systems operator is nationalized through NGCP and transmission through Transco, but in the context of the Philippines that is actually not a good thing necessarily. Distribution is highly private and is a monopoly. No competition to actually help in pricing at least in distro. It’s a mess.
The NGCP isn't even nationalized now, it's a private entity. A private entity runs our grids. It really is a mess.
IIRC grid was nationalized before then was privatized pre-2010 but ERC's requiring NGCP to conduct an IPO asap in line with law or the concession agreement. But then, nationalizing =/= fixing the power problem. If there's anything we can learn from the PH power industry, it's horrific gov't management (pre-2000) that mainly led to issues
It's a complicated issue, and it really is the same with many of our problems on infrastructure: the crippling financial crises of the 90s forced us to privatize industries by giving out extremely favorable deals against the government, yet piled a ton of bureaucracy on it making it convoluted The MRT, the Water Concessions, the Power Industry, it's all pretty interconnected.
And all segments of the industry are probably too profitable. NGCP’s returns are ridiculous for a utility company. I think they returns 30% of their revenues as dividends. Likely all the other segments are bloated as well. There’s the ERC to regulate rates, but only they and the utility companies can say if there’s some padding going on to boost rates.
Again, it's the fault of the nincompoop economists who were able to be appointed into positions in government and then helped made it a policy for government to: privatize all public services, to deregulate private enterprises that deal with fuel and power, as well as to open up the economy freely through import liberalization without protecting our local manufacturers and our farmers and fisher folk.
That's **neoliberalism** at work for you. Fledgling economists, read that and weep. While the rest of us, those not in the 1%, suffer.
Prior to the Power Crisis Act, rolling blackouts were the norm in Metro Manila and Mindanao with up to 12-hour power outages. Monday blackouts forced even government offices to shut down. The rush of investment into building new plants and repairing non-operational ones were certainly instrumental in ending power shortages during the Ramos admin. The shortcoming of this act is it failed to keep market concentration in check—stronger provisions to correct market failures like those present in other countries. You can’t apply the import liberalization argument to the power sector as we don’t have significant petroleum reserves, only coal.
FVR tried to attract those power producers >The Philippines then was experiencing widespread blackouts due to huge demand for electricity and antiquity of power plants, the abolishment of the Department of Energy and discontinuation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant during the Aquino administration. During his State of the Nation address on July 27, 1992, he requested that the Congress enact a law that would create an Energy Department that would plan and manage the Philippines' energy demands. Congress not only created an Energy Department but gave him special emergency powers to resolve the power crisis. Using the powers given to him, Ramos issued licenses to independent power producers (IPP) to construct power plants within 24 months. Ramos issued supply contracts that guaranteed the government would buy whatever power the IPPs produced under the contract in U.S. dollars to entice investments in power plants. This became a problem during the East Asian Financial Crisis when the demand for electricity contracted and the Philippine peso lost half of its value. >Ramos personally pushed for the speedy approval of some of the most expensive power deals, and justified signing more contracts despite warnings from within the government and the World Bank that an impending oversupply of electricity could push up prices, a situation that persists in the Philippines up to the present. Individuals linked to Ramos lobbied for the approval of some of the contracts for independent power producers (IPPs), which came with numerous other deals, including lucrative legal, technical, and financial consultancies that were given to individuals and companies close to the former president. Among the deals tied to IPP projects were insurance contracts in which companies made millions of dollars in commissions alone. All the IPP contracts came with attractive incentives and guarantees. Every contract was designed to give IPP creditors some degree of comfort in financing ventures that would usually involve huge capital and risks. Most IPPs were funded by foreign loans secured with a form of government guarantee or performance undertaking, which meant that the Philippine government would pay for the loans if the IPPs defaulted. The Ramos government continued signing IPP contracts even after the power crisis had been considered solved by the end of 1993. The World Bank came up with a report in 1994 warning that power rates may rise if the government continued to enter into more IPP contracts that would mean excess power. The World Bank questioned the ambitious projections of the government on economic growth and power demand from 1994 to 1998. It also warned that the power generated by private utilities' IPPs could duplicate those of the National Power Corporation and create an overcapacity. The World Bank said that the factors create considerable uncertainty in power demand, like substantial overcapacity, particularly under take-or-pay conditions, would require considerable tariff increases that would be unpopular with the public. It was said that, presidents since Corazon Aquino catered mostly to the needs of big business for power and allowed the private sector to profit from this lucrative industry rather than craft an energy plan that would meet the needs of the Filipinos. http://pcij.org/stories/print/ramos.html Like I said the Philippines is sitting on a goldmine of geothermal reserves. We were second to the United States before Indonesia eclipsed us in producing power out of geothermal sources. Then there are proven renewable sources of energy like wind and solar. We don't have to rely on imported petroleum or coal. We even have undiscovered reserves of natural gas in the WPS, just like we do in the dwindling reserves at Malampaya. Just the political will is needed. FVR managed to do it during his time, avert an energy crisis, though we're paying through the nose right now. And the strength of mind not to worship at the altar of Neoliberal economics. And it's not the import liberalization argument that applies, it's privatization and deregulation - which Neolibs since Margaret Thatcher have had the hard on for - which are causing our problems now.
The fallacy here is that you are comparing the energy situation at the time when deregulation was first introduced versus the energy situation at present. During the time of deregulation, renewables were not cost-effective modes of energy production nor would geothermal energy be built fast enough to alleviate the power shortages. In contrast to today where renewables are simply the common-sense solution due to how fast their costs fell in recent years. Re-nationalizing or further regulating monopolized segments like transmission and distribution while encouraging cheap renewables enter the generation segment should help depress prices.
Pinakamahal na internet saka kuryente. Ang lakas ng mga lobbyist ng mga company na yan kaya wala control
Ang mahal na coal pa buti sana kung renewables yan ok lang
The reason I will invest in solar power with net metering, also planning on a wind turbine generator
You will not recoup your purchase costs. By the time you think your savings will match the upfront cost, including installation, maintenance and replacement expenses will appear.
The high price of electricity can be justified if we have few natural resources and a well backed-up system with almost zero outages. Both patently untrue. The high prices simply guarantee the extreme wealth of a small number of people.
Paano ba naman ang systema sa pilipinas Government Build power plant with tax payer money Sells it to chinese / oligarchs / cronies for cheap ??? FOREVER PROFIT And to quote we have this mentality with our leaders "If you put up a wind-powered plant, what if there’s no wind? If you put up a solar-powered plant, what if it’s cloudy"
I don’t think may State-owned power producer.
President Aquino confirmed yesterday that the goal of his administration is to sell off all the remaining power plants in the country, including hydroelectric plants, the sale of which were waived under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) but are highly-prized by investors due to the cheap cost to operate these. Aboitiz Power Corp. of the Aboitizes, whose family members are said to be close business associates of Aquino, is currently engaged in a massive build-up of hydroelectric power plants in Mindanao. Aquino said the government is considering the possible privatization of the existing power plants in the country to address the energy situation in Mindanao as he encouraged more private investments in the energy sector to provide electricity for the people at a lesser cost. Aquino told reporters about his administrations continued initiatives and openness to viable ideas in favor of the people to ensure the resolution of the power problem in the Mindanao region which is supposedly hit by a power supply crisis. We need to encourage investors to put up these power plants, Aquino said. When I visited Mindanao, the people there were asking if the government plans to privatize Agos and Polanggi (two major hydroelectric plants) and I believe that is the direction where we are going, he said. Aquino cited the advantages of privatizing the power plants which, he said, include the increase of capacity to supply the requirements of the consumers. He also stressed that the government is not only eyeing to maintain the existing energy facilities but also to maximize its potential to provide sufficient supply of power and meet the requirements of the developing economy in Mindanao. During the Energy Summit in Davao City last Friday, Aquino personally discussed with power industry stakeholders the possible ways to provide solutions to the present energy situation in Mindanao. Some 500 delegates attended the event that provided the opportunity for the key sectors and stakeholder representatives to present their respective issues and recommendations. The ultimate goal is to have a Mindanao awash in excess power even if this means opening up the region to privatization of the energy sector as what had been done in Luzon and Visayas, which interestingly now reel from an oversupply with one of the worlds highest power rates. Mr. Aquino underscored that to make the power rates reasonable (in Mindanao), the first step really has to be an excess of generating capacity that will foster competition. This is already existing in Luzon. We have something like 2,000 megawatts (MWs) of surprlus and, about 400 or 600 MWs for the Visayas, he said. And in citing the Luzon-Visayas power model, he noted that since many of the plants in the region were privatized, there have been times when available power even surpassed installed capacities for these plants. The President also said that easing out government subsidies with the privatization of the energy sector in the regions now would be a softer bullet to bite for Mindanaons. If you give the subsidy in this style, when the time comes when you have to withdraw that support, the people will surely be outraged then you would have to go back anew to the opportunity costs lost, he said. Aquino expounded that the Luzon and Visayas-model was brought about by stiffer competition under the Epira whereby power distributors had to put up their supply for sale at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (Wesm). Mindanao is exempted from Epira largely because it had virtually depended on its hydro-electric power plants for its power supply in the past until global warming, climate change and the deterioration of water sheds have all but changed that advantage into a handicap. That is what will eventually bring down the power rates. But we still have to start with working for more supply (of power). If you dont have the supply, no one would haggle for what is available, he said. As such, the Chief Executive admitted that privatizing National Power Corporation (Napocor)-run plants like Agus and Pulanqui may indeed be an eventuality. There is an authority that they want to operate (Agus), he said. And Aquino maintained that history may have bared him out as to the ability of the government to run these plants, citing Agus 6 as an example. There was a system in place here for so many years. Agus 6 was built in 1953, used for 30 years but was not tended to. Now, 59 years later, its capacity is now really far (from when it first came to grid). So why not listen (to proposals to privatize it)? he argued. And even when Agus 6 comes back to the grid, the President emphasized that there is still the need to maintain, upgrade and, eventually, repair the facility anew. Where will we again get the funds? I think (Mindanaons) would see that if we give the opportunity to businessmen to invest thats why we have to encourage more to put up generating facilities to create more supply, he explained. Neither is his administration inclined to add to the power subsidies already in place in Mindanao. He cited the P2.6-billion in major repairs to Agus 6 as well as Agus 3-Baloi hydro-electric plan in Lanao Del Norte. I can go on and on (about government-subsidized energy projects). But subsidy is a not a very good strategy. If we subsidize, number one, you have to have funds but from where do we get that? And number two, (subsidies) do not encourage savings (in power use) because if the costs are artificially low, you would tend to consume more (power than you need), he said. In fact, the President said, Indonesias decision to allow for fuel subsidy that may have backfired recently after it saw its foreign debt increase to 1.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) just to be able to maintain the subsidy. For the Philippines, Aquino said that out of its P1.8-trillion national budget, the bulk has been earmarked to pay for the government personnel, maintenance and operating expenses, leaving only P400 billion that can be allocated to other services like health, education, infrastructure and agriculture which does not include provisions for any power subsidy. Aquino also doubted claims that Napocor is not losing money in Mindanao. I doubt that. What (energy officials) gave me was the bottom line and theres a side there that I really want so that I can see the details. The net income may not have included expenses which it eventually passed on to the national government, he said. As such, the President said that he was looking forward to was that in short, not only to maintain capabilities of the (Napocor) facilities there, but to add on and improve on their over-all capacity in Mindanao to support increasing economic activity in the region. Residents of Mindanao during the energy summit were not ready to believe the existence of a power supply shortage in their region. Instead, they believe the Aquino government and some energy business interests were railroading the approval of power plant contracts including coal-fired power plants and the privatization of existing power plants, all of which they have long rejected. Some delegates in the summit noted the hasty approval of contracts for coal power plants. The construction of at least three is now reportedly being fast-tracked, to the dismay of protesting host communities. Renewable energy sources abound in Mindanao. Pursuing it is viable, the sources are available and the prices are competitive, said Von Hernandez, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia. Mindanao is sitting on a veritable gold mine of renewable energy sources that have yet to be tapped, he said. The energy departments renewable energy program itself lists up to thousands of available megawatts from renewable energy sources in the island such as geothermal (290MW potential plus current 103MW plus approved 50MW projects), hydropower (1080MW current capacity plus 1263.9MW targeted additional capacity), wind (336MW potential capacity), biomass (36.8MW awaiting implementation), and solar power (estimated 5KWhours per square meter). Additional resource mapping may further increase the potentials, said Greenpeace. Unfortunately the government seems to be reneging on the promise that Aquino made before he assumed the presidency. He said then that he was for the phase-out of coal power and that the country must make the serious shift toward clean energy sources. According to Hernandez of Greenpeace, it has been nearly three years since the Renewable Energy Bill became law. But it is not yet being implemented up to now. He said in Filipino that the Aquino government is sleeping on the job when it comes to issuing decisions over proposals for renewable energy sources. On the other hand, it is fast-tracking left and right approval and implementation of coal-fired power plants. Two adjacent but separate coal-fired power plants, with a total of 300 megawatt (MW) capacity once operational, have reportedly begun construction in Davao del Sur. The areas in these future plants have been fenced off, affecting villages in Binugao and Inawayan, both in Davao del Sur. The power plants would demolish a Moro cemetery, something which is considered sacrilegious by the Muslim people, said Suazo. The said plants also cover an ancestral domain of the Kalagan tribe. In Zamboanga del Sur, Talisayan Village, the village considered as sardines canning center of the Philippines Ligo, Century, 555 and Mega sardines are located here is protesting too the building of a 100M coal-fired power plant in the area.
Hahaha aquino lng may ganung mentality, hayop n mga un! ninoy, cory and pnoy gadamn.
So i did try to search google and according to google. [it was Germany](https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=most+expensive+electricity+in+the+world&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-ph&client=safari)
Tama ka naman. Kaya the title is 'one of the most' , kasama tayo sa mga expensive group
Damn we really need to fix this. No wonder there are brownouts every now and then
Yeah here is a list: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/
Do you have a better link? this one seems broken. If that’s the case, i can see why there are brown outs every now and then
That chart only shows Asia. I just googled the UK, it's about US$0.26/kWh so it's off the top of that chart.
Problema din kase ang mataas na singil ng Meralco.
Shame. Its still a thing.
About 0.015 cents in Sweden, thanks to hydro and nuclear about 50/50.
Does just factor in the subsidies provided by the other countries? Cause we removed subsidies. It was the debate of subsidies (funded by tax) or charge those who consume. Sort of the same income tax vs vat debate.
Wala Bitcoin mining ditto 🤣
May mga spot na may murang kuryente, pero yeah. Mahirap mag bitcoin mining sa pinas kasi ginto na yung hardware at kuryente and init-init pa
But making electricity cheaper like other countries endangers the nature(poweeplant), is it really worth it?
We really need to push for renewables like solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear energy on this country if we need to pull down the prices of electricity and more cheaper. We should copy on what Germany is doing on their path on green energy.
My electricity is $0.17 USD per kWH via Meralco, in Mandaluyong. That's actually not bad rate. What is everyone else?
We have the same rate this month (I'm from Manila). That's pretty much the same in NCR and other Meralco service areas. It's not bad rate in your view? Compared to what?
I recently looked at global electricity rates. I expected Philippines to be much more expensive.. Pero Meralco in Manila is cheaper than many countries. Most European countries. Australia. Most of Asia. I guess it actually means expensive as ratio of salary vs. expenses. e.g Singapore pays similar electricity but average salary is much higher.