The Philippines faces a potential 16-percent surge in electricity prices by April unless the government takes urgent action, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin told Reuters last Friday.
As I mentioned in a previous article, we should expect our electricity prices to spike in the coming months. We only have to look at the Ukraine and Middle East crises for an explanation.
Manila Electric Company said it is moving to shield customers from possible electricity price pressure as tensions in the Middle East threaten global fuel markets.
Escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are raising concerns about fuel supply disruptions in the Philippines, particularly for island and off-grid communities that rely heavily on diesel-powered electricity.
The war in Iran and the resulting disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have jolted global oil and gas markets, with Brent crude and LNG prices spiking as tankers sit stranded off Fujairah and other Gulf hubs.
For over 20 years, the Philippines has pursued the development of a competitive electricity market to deliver lower costs to consumers. The Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) unequivocally mandates that retail competition, consumer choice, and private contracting—not government control—drive efficiency.
At the recent ENERCON 2025 Conference hosted by the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), I presented a simple but uncomfortable truth: electricity in the Philippines is expensive not because of technology, fuel, or even inefficiency alone—but because of the financialization of regulation itself.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines has asserted that its transmission charges represent just 2.98 percent of a typical consumer’s electricity bill, amid ongoing scrutiny of power costs and regulatory oversight.
It pointed out that most new projects entering the grid are solar plants, which do not generate power at night, further straining supply and driving up prices.