Warning up vs SPB franchise
Credit to Author: ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES| Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2019 16:19:45 +0000
Fearing it can break the playing field in the renewable sector and harm power consumers, business groups on Thursday urged President Duterte to review House Bill 8179, which aims to grant a franchise to Solar Para sa Bayan (SPB) Corp.
“The grant of the franchise will create an undue competitive edge in favor of SPB Corp. and put at a disadvantage other renewable energy companies now operating in our country,” members of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, Semicondutor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines and Women’s Business Council Philippines said in a joint statement.
The groups said SPB Corp.’s franchise will make less viable the operations of the other renewable energy companies and Qualified Third Parties (QTPs), which have been operating after compliance with substantive and formal requirements set by law.
“In other words, the grant of the franchise may defeat His Excellency’s objective of levelling the playing field in the renewable energy sector, and could prejudice power consumers,” they said.
The group noted that the franchise “was approved so swiftly and thus, may have been approved without sufficient deliberation to thresh out fundamental constitutional, legal and economic issues.”
“In view of the impact of the SPB Corp.’s franchise bill on small, mini and micro grids now operating in the country, as well as to the power consumers in general, we appeal to His Excellency to have the members of the Economic Cluster of the Cabinet review this franchise bill prior to any executive action,” they said.
The Senate and House of Representatives earlier ratified the bicameral conference committee report on House Bill 8179 that granted SPSB a 25-year franchise.
This covers the construction, installation, establishment, operation, and maintenance of distributable power technologies and mini-grid systems throughout the Philippines to improve access to sustainable energy.
The final version of the bill however has limited the scope to “remote and unviable, unserved, or underserved areas,” and only in selected provinces of the country.
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