“While the Epira was crafted to supposedly bring down electricity rates, policy implementation tends to show otherwise. Compared to Luzon and Visayas where most power plants have been privatized under the EPIRA, Mindanao has the lowest electricity rate in the country,” Jong Pacanot of the Freedom from Debt Coalition-Southern Mindanao said during the forum.
Epira’s “success story” may lie in the dismantling of monopoly by the government of the power industry but it has still failed to bring about lower rates, Pacanot added.
Feranil said they have already submitted proposals for amending Epira which will be taken up in a congressional hearing on June 25.
City Councilor Pilar Braga added that the city council has passed a series of resolutions asking the Congress to decide against the impending privatization of the Agus and Pulangui facilities and “to seriously start reviewing the Epira”.
