RAPPLER ANIMATE: Why Are Electricity Rates In The Philippines The Highest In Asia?

31 Responses to "RAPPLER ANIMATE: Why Are Electricity Rates In The Philippines The Highest In Asia?"

danielsaihung says:

July 28, 2012 at 10:25 am

Brownouts in the 90’s prompted for more Independent Power Producers. There
was more demand than supply which means they can probably sell the power
generated. Still, investors were worried about credit-worthiness of power
purchasers. To attract investors, government guaranteed to buy power
generated by IPP. They accepted more IPP deals than needed. The deals also
lacked transparency.

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trafalgar03 says:

July 28, 2012 at 4:39 pm

3nglish sucks

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Kowboy Santos says:

July 29, 2012 at 3:45 am

bullshit. sorry but greed is the #1 cuase of high rates. also, how about
updating our shit

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BiancaPraySongs says:

July 30, 2012 at 3:48 am

/ Great report. Kudos to the animation! Impressive. But I’ve said it before
and I’ll say it again, the reporter could use some english speaking
training. Her accent is distracting! :(

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rubb3rduck says:

July 30, 2012 at 10:42 am

Systems Loss should not be shouldered by consumers. It is up to the
distributor to make sure their installations are efficient and tamper-free.

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shadowgrinch says:

July 30, 2012 at 2:42 pm

You should go out of the country more. Even in different states the US have
differing accents.

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BiancaPraySongs says:

July 30, 2012 at 3:43 pm

I do! In fact, I’m out of the country now (in Singapore). I go to the US
(New York, Vegas, etc). I’ve also been to Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia,
and soon in Australia. But this is not about me, it’s about the reporter.
And I do not need to go anywhere to know that the reporter’s accent can be
much much much improved. After all, this is rappler and people expect a lot
from them.

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shadowgrinch says:

July 30, 2012 at 5:32 pm

No, even from your first comment it’s about you. You said her accent is
distracting. A personal opinion that may or may not be shared by others. I
would rather focus on the message rather on something subjective as accent.

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dhathor says:

August 10, 2012 at 4:26 am

One thing’s for sure: had Cory decided to continue Marcos’ Bataan Nuclear
Power Plant project, there wouldn’t be a lot of blackouts that occurred
during her regime. But since she didn’t want to ‘cuz “it’ll remind the
Filipinos of Marcos,” that’s what happened. What a flawed logic. What a
virtuous bitch indeed.

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dhathor says:

August 10, 2012 at 4:30 am

Had there been no 60/40 policy in the Yellow Constitution, there would’ve
been more electric service providers. Without such crappy, irrational
provision, we could take in foreigners who give better services than that
of the crappy MERALCO who has the monopoly (thus, the high prices, since
MERALCO has no competitors right now, so it can do whatever it wants) of
electricity right now.

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aloneinthisworld says:

August 14, 2012 at 3:25 pm

the idea that the reporter’s trying to tell us is more important, not the
accent. as long as we can understand her, the accent shouldn’t be an issue.

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Readioheed says:

August 15, 2012 at 9:18 am

Mura’g si Alyssa Alano ang ga-voice-over. ;D

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Readioheed says:

August 15, 2012 at 9:20 am

But I have to say that it’s very informative. My thanks to the uploader. :)

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Kristina Amanda Cruz says:

August 23, 2012 at 11:46 am

An old professor of mine shared that he personally thought the blackouts
then were done on purpose so the nation would find Napocor as an unreliable
source, and therefore allow the privatization of energy supply. I also
wonder how much oil and coal suppliers are controlling this industry such
that the development of natural energy resources is slowed down.

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greenfarter says:

April 22, 2013 at 6:27 am

is there a downloadable version of the diagram drawn above?

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Vito Andolini says:

October 27, 2013 at 9:16 am

Someone mentioned how to educate the regular Filipino. We now have a
regular person, who knows how to post to Youtube, who, even when given the
facts, still chose to single out Meralco.

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Jepp says:

December 11, 2013 at 2:51 am

I like how informative it was. But they should have gotten a better voice
artist though. Her accent’s kinda distracting.

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anonimusako says:

December 11, 2013 at 1:55 pm

Unfortunately, this just exposes the failure yet again of the Filipino
society as a whole. Subservient sheeps will always be prey to the powers
that be.

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vincenton post says:

December 11, 2013 at 2:10 pm

The “protected” power cronies might be guilty of collusion in rate increase?

I can almost hear some brain-dead leftists blaming non-existent capitalism
for this seemingly manufactured, well-known issue designed to divert
people’s attention from the current regime’s pork barrel and political
scandals.

To set the record straight: RP’s power cronies are PROTECTED by law from
competition. Pinoy power cronies enjoy ABSOLUTE MONOPOLY. Thus, we have a
semi-socialist or FASCISTIC power sector.

Here’s why any scheming, potential leftist tyrant (ala Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela) can easily establish socialist dictatorship in the Philippines.

1. Any potential tyrant and his leftist minions can easily blame power rate
increases on non-existent capitalism.

2. Offer socialism or nationalization of the power industry as the only
solution.

3. The result: The replacement of the semi-socialist or FASCISTIC/CRONY
power sector with an ABSOLUTE STATE-OWNERSHIP system.

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vincenton post says:

December 11, 2013 at 2:24 pm

Very crude explanation. Our electricity, including Internet services, is
expensive because it is a government-protected MONOPOLY. The Philippines’
power CRONIES are protected by our laws from market competition.

By contrast, Singapore’s electricity is one of the cheapest in Asia and in
the world because of the country’s key regulative goals:

1. a level playing field
2. transparent and consistent application of rules
3. open access
4. low entry and exit barriers.

Singapore’s power industry champions MARKET COMPETITION.

Its key principles are as follows:

1. Free market competition and encouragement of market outcomes.
2. Market to drive investments, allow entry or exit of new
competitors/products into the market.
3. Market to incentivise most cost efficient behavior.
4. Market sets electricity price. (Unlike RP’s subsidized and
government-controlled power sector).
5. NO DISTORTION FROM SUBSIDIES, causer-pays principle.

According to an SG report: “One outcome of competition is to cause
companies to adopt the most cost efficient technology- Combined Cycle Gas
Turbines.”

SOURCE: Singapores Electricity Market After Market Reform

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oliver mia says:

December 11, 2013 at 2:35 pm

KALOKOHAN! WALANG KUMPETISYON KAYA MAHAL!!!

BWISET!

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Kevin Dimla says:

December 13, 2013 at 1:41 am

susmarya, grabe pala ang ganid ng mga taong yan….

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roberto jesus concepcion says:

December 13, 2013 at 4:51 pm

plain and simple as always… PALPAK, and plain stupidity! who the *uck is
talking in this video!? look girl not everybody here is stupid and you
don’t have to elaborate! we all know whats going on! this is just another
propoganda, para maiwas ang sisi sa kanila… who do you think released
this freakin video! pareho lahat kayo! damn!

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debbase says:

December 30, 2013 at 11:09 am

we should consider Tesla. or should I say not an option? :)

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Eric Gallardo says:

January 7, 2014 at 3:49 am

Sana i Taglish nila ito para lalong maunawaan ng mga nakikinig.

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Mark Sweeter says:

January 7, 2014 at 12:25 pm

Well, the video failed to discuss a VERY important factor which was the
fact that Aquino (through a political move) dismantled in 1986 a FULLY
FUNCTIONAL nuclear power plant that had been in the making since the late
70s. As you fast-forward the video to the end, the real problem is
revealed. There is not enough capacity due to lack of production. Imagine
what would have happened if nuclear power generation would have moved
forward? All industrialized nations are using nuclear power, including
Korea and Japan. The problem is The Philippines and the way it has allowed
power to be wielded. Even today, there is WAY too much executive power.
Presidents can just make executive order without an act of law by the
legislature. VERY DANGEROUS. I don’t understand why the people are
allowing this. That is way too much power to be held in one person’s
hands! And THAT is why Aquino was able to stop nuclear power – in order to
embarrass the previous president. But in doing so, she severely damaged
the country and it’s ability to move forward alongside other Asian
countries.

Even if the move to stop nuclear power was not political, the fact that
billions of dollars was wasted like that is a sign of massive dysfunction.

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pincus1974 says:

February 4, 2014 at 1:22 pm

This video will dazzle people with all these explanations with this “visual
treat”. But in reality why the electricity bill is high can be explained in
one word: monopoly. At one point I thought I could trust rappler. I was
dead wrong.

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Hein Oomen says:

July 23, 2014 at 1:23 pm

This is a very good overview of the legal structure around the electricity
system in the Philippines, but it is not an answer to the question why the
rates are the highest in Asia (which they aren’t by the way, Japan’s rates
are higher).

The real answer is: Philippines does not have domestic production of cheap
fossil fuels (except for the Malampaya gas field, for which Shell ensures
Filipinos pay a price that is equal to what it would have been if it were
imported), and the government does not use subsidies to artificially lower
the electricity price, as is done in Malaysia, Indonesia and many other
countries in the region.

So the question should in fact be: Why does most of Asia (except the
Philippines) have electricity rates that are too low to be sustainable?

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ScholarGnome says:

September 19, 2014 at 5:03 pm

I suggest that the country should build more geothermal power plants.I
think that the root cause of the problem is the fact that the Philippines
does not have a lot of fossil fuel resources to enable the injection of
subsidies to artificially lower the energy costs to consumers (unlike its
oil rich neighbours). Add to this the equally unfortunate reality of high
income inequality which leads to a great proportion of the population who
can barely able to pay for their energy consumption.

The blame shouldn’t be put on the government (which actually lacks the
executive power to do much of anything contrary to what many people think),
or on energy companies (which are buying fuel at exorbitant rates set by
the world market). People can be too unrealistic at times. They think that
problems like these can be solved by just nationalizing the energy
companies or changing the government. The Philippine economy is growing at
an extraordinary rate right now which equates to an ever increasing demand
on power. The supply simply can’t keep up with the demand.

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Visc Vill says:

October 19, 2014 at 12:10 pm

I went all the way here just to tell you your production and script sucks.

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Jericho Co says:

March 9, 2016 at 1:20 pm

It’s time to make Generation 4 Nuclear Power Plant. China is building
hundreds of these, why not us?Terrorism? Put the plant inside military
bases.

Reply

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