Tiangco bill removing system loss charge up

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco has refiled a bill seeking to remove the system loss charge from consumers’ monthly electricity bills following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s call for reforms to lower power costs.

Tiangco, who first filed the proposal in 2010, said the President’s endorsement gives the measure its best chance yet of becoming law.

“I am pleased that this proposal has become part of the legislative agenda of the President. We have long said that it is not reasonable for the ordinary consumer to pay for electricity that is stolen and inefficiencies that they have nothing to do with,” he said.

The systems loss charge, authorized under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, allows distribution utilities to recover costs from technical losses during transmission and non-technical losses, such as electricity theft.

Tiangco said previous versions of the bill failed to gain traction but expressed hope that Congress would now act on the proposal.

“If we are serious about lowering electricity costs, charges that are not the fault of the public should be removed. This is a concrete measure that the public can feel through their monthly bills,” he said.

Power distributors, however, warned that eliminating the charge could affect the financial viability of utilities.