MANILA, Philippines — Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco on Tuesday said he would refile a measure removing systems loss charges from consumers’ electricity bills after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called for ending the practice as part of efforts to lower electricity costs for Filipino households.
During his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, Marcos said consumers should no longer bear systems loss charges in their monthly electricity bills, a proposal aimed at reducing the country’s high power rates.
In a statement, Tiangco welcomed the President’s pronouncement, noting that he first introduced the measure in 2016 through House Bill 942.
The measure sought to prohibit private distribution utilities from passing system losses on to consumers, limit recoverable system losses of rural electric cooperatives to technical losses capped at five percent, and remove the VAT imposed on systems loss charges.
"I am pleased that this proposal is now clearly part of the president's legislative agenda,” Tiangco said.
“We have long maintained that it is unjust for ordinary consumers to shoulder the costs of losses and inefficiencies for which they bear no responsibility,” he added.
Under the bill, only rural electric cooperatives would be allowed to recover legitimate technical losses arising from the physical delivery of electricity, subject to verification by the Energy Regulatory Commission and the five-percent ceiling. Private distribution utilities will no longer be allowed to recover systems loss charges from consumers.
Tiangco said the President’s policy direction provided renewed momentum for the measure, which did not advance when it was first filed nearly a decade ago.
The lawmaker expressed hope that the 20th Congress would support the proposal, saying the measure will provide immediate relief to consumers amid persistently high electricity prices.
Tiangco said he would refile the bill at the opening of the new Congress and urged lawmakers to back what he described as a long-overdue consumer protection measure aligned with the President’s call to ease the burden of electricity costs on Filipino families.
