The Power for People Coalition (P4P) on Tuesday called on the new incoming senators and congressmen of the 20th Congress to put an end to the annual summer power crisis and bring down power rates for consumers.
As the 2025 national and local election results come in, Meralco announced lower rates brought about by five power plants, representing a total capacity of 1,759 megawatts (MW) of capacity and all powered by coal, coming online after an entire summer of being disconnected from the grid.
“The 19th Congress was marked by lawmakers ignoring the complaints of consumers. It hastened the renewal of the Meralco franchise despite its billing practices, conflicts of interest concerning its distribution and generation business, and its continued dependence on expensive fossil fuels. The same Congress also doubled down on natural gas despite its proven track record of driving up power rates and crippling power grids for countries who do not have their own supply. We urge new and returning lawmakers to do what their predecessors did not: put consumer interests ahead,” said Gerry Arances, P4P Convenor.
The energy consumer advocate said that lawmakers should prioritize reforms to the power industry, as high power rates coupled with unreliable delivery is crippling economic growth.
“The economic potential of the country is constrained by the predatory practices of power companies. Businesses and residential consumers alike complain of high power rates while suffering through red alerts and power outages during the summer, when electricity is needed the most,” said Arances.
“The next Congress should look into the continued dependence on fossil fuels such as coal and gas, whose volatile price and supply produce record profits for power companies to the detriment of everyone else. All summer power crises have one root cause: power plants using fossil fuels break down. As the industry is organized right now, it gives perverse incentives to power companies to keep using the fuel as their profits are not just guaranteed, but actually increase when they fail to deliver electricity,” he added.
Arances also called on consumers to remain vigilant even if the next election is three years away.
“We can only force a solution to the power crisis if politicians know that we are watching them. Let’s keep our eyes on our elected representatives and how they vote on key energy issues,” said Arances.
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