Workers protested in front on Meralco España Business Center Monday morning against the recent power rate hike of P0.24/kWh prompted by the Malampaya shutdown.
Meralco announced the increase for generation and other chargers based on the Malampaya shutdown for its maintenance schedule from March 26 to April 13. The said power rate hike is equivalent to P54 for 200kWh consumption in April. Meralco also confirmed another hike for May.
All Workers Unity (AWU) said Meralco is only using the Malampaya shutdown as their “lame excuse”. In a statement, AWU spokesperson Rea Alegre said there is no basis for the power rate hikes.
“The Department of Energy (DOE) has already confirmed last week that Luzon has enough power reserve during the Malampaya shutdown. However the DOE is also quick to agree with the MVP Group of Companies led-Meralco that if Luzon’s peak demand reaches 9,000 megawatts, 1,600 megawatts of reserve electricity will be needed to avoid rotational blackouts.”
“World market trends clearly shows more than 50% lower prices plus surplus of oil and other fuel energy available to all power producers. These alternative fuel sources are not expensive at this point in time. In any case, the Malampaya shutdown clearly should not result to additional costs, thus, no basis for any power rate hikes,” Alegre said.
Alegre also said the government should heed the call for the National Minimum Wage of P16,000 monthly to provide immediate relief for the workers amid the price hikes.
