MANILA—Senate Energy Committee Chairperson Erwin Tulfo said that electric companies should not be allowed to recover the systems loss charge through other items in consumers’ electricity bills.

Tulfo gave the assurance amid concerns that removing the charge could simply result in the cost being transferred to distribution, supply or other charges.

“We have anticipated this loophole and it is unacceptable. We cannot remove systems loss from one line of the electricity bill only to see the same cost transferred somewhere else,” Tulfo said.

“This is why the bill we are shepherding now explicitly prohibits distribution utilities and electric cooperative from recovering allowed losses through distribution wheeling charges, supply charges, metering charges, universal charges, subsidies, or any other item in the bill,” he continued.

Tulfo was referring to Senate Bill No. 2486, or the “Systems Loss Charge Removal Act,” an administration priority measure that he sponsored on the Senate floor on September 22.

He said the proposed legislation seeks to prevent consumers from continuing to shoulder costs arising from electricity systems losses.

“Why do consumers pay for electricity that they did not consume? Why do consumers bear the brunt of inefficiencies and deteriorating facilities resulting in systems loss?” Sen. Tulfo queried.

“Consumers lose with this mechanism. Because they solely carry both the burden of system loss and the inefficiencies,” the chairman lamented.

Tulfo urged the Senate to fast-track the measure’s enactment, saying its passage would remove what he described as unnecessary costs being borne by consumers.

“Electricity is not a luxury. It is a basic necessity the modern society needs to operate with dignity,” the senator remarked.

“Let’s give Filipino consumers what they deserve: A reliable electricity and fair billing,” he further concluded.