RAPPLER ANIMATE: Why are Electricity Rates in the Philippines the Highest in Asia? 

This is a very good overview of the legal structure around the electricity system in the Philippines, but it is not an answer to the question why the rates are the highest in Asia (which they aren't by the way, Japan's rates are higher). The real answer is: Philippines does not have domestic production of cheap fossil fuels (except for the Malampaya gas field, for which Shell ensures Filipinos pay a price that is equal to what it would have been if it were imported), and the government does not use subsidies to artificially lower the electricity price, as is done in Malaysia, Indonesia and many other countries in the region. So the question should in fact be: Why does most of Asia (except the Philippines) have electricity rates that are too low to be sustainable?

Upon watching it, the private investors don't incur any loss in this system. Everytime there's a problem, they would simply pass the would-be losses to consumers as increased prices. Even excess supply which is supposed to lower prices still end up as higher prices for consumers

Bakit antaas ng singil sa kuryente? Pano ginawang negosyong malaki ng epira law. Yung kinikita ng Meralco na average na P26B ay patunay na mga common pinoy ay pinaparusahan ng epira law.✌️

sana gawin na lang yun power plant o producer ilagay sa malapit sa mga consumer para di na dumaan sa mga powerline grids at sila na rin mag maintain ng power distribution para mawala na patong ng ndcp at meralco etc. in short tangalin yun mga middleman

Don’t focus much on Meralco. You have to perform 5 level of whys. And The real culprit is security in those areas with untapped rich natural resources. There is potential of large gas deposits in Liguasan Marsh Mindanao and West Philippine Sea. Guess what on why this is not yet explored or drained? Border dispute in west philippine sea and unending rido wars or conflict in Mindanao. Imagine on how many megawatts can be produced by these extracted natural gas deposits.

Monopoly. Lack of free market competition is the real culprit.

Pls investigate ALECO..magdamag ang brownout on and off..gen manager wilfredo bucit.

Nawala ung focus sa topic puro drawing. Galing nyo tlga rappler

Shame pa rin. Hindi na nabigyan ng sagot. Mahal mahirap pang magtayo ng mga bagong power plants. Sino May sala? Sino pa kung hindi ang Phil DOE.

as long si player M nandiyan price will not go down. niloloko lng mga L na iyan sila rin may ari ng mga private company over charging mga iyan

Use geothermal

Meron sana tayo Nuclear Power Plant katulad ng ibang mauunlad na bansa ngayon kung ipinagpatuloy lang ni. . eto po ang mga link. . . ru-vid.comWQJAMWAyHVg?feature=share ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--qVS6k5r-Rc.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KfNFr8MTwsM.html

Very crude explanation. Our electricity, including Internet services, is expensive because it is a government-protected MONOPOLY. The Philippines' power CRONIES are protected by our laws from market competition. By contrast, Singapore's electricity is one of the cheapest in Asia and in the world because of the country's key regulative goals: 1. a level playing field 2. transparent and consistent application of rules 3. open access 4. low entry and exit barriers. Singapore's power industry champions MARKET COMPETITION. Its key principles are as follows: 1. Free market competition and encouragement of market outcomes. 2. Market to drive investments, allow entry or exit of new competitors/products into the market. 3. Market to incentivise most cost efficient behavior. 4. Market sets electricity price. (Unlike RP's subsidized and government-controlled power sector). 5. NO DISTORTION FROM SUBSIDIES, causer-pays principle. According to an SG report: "One outcome of competition is to cause companies to adopt the most cost efficient technology- Combined Cycle Gas Turbines." SOURCE: Singapores Electricity Market After Market Reform

An old professor of mine shared that he personally thought the blackouts then were done on purpose so the nation would find Napocor as an unreliable source, and therefore allow the privatization of energy supply. I also wonder how much oil and coal suppliers are controlling this industry such that the development of natural energy resources is slowed down.

Sana i Taglish nila ito para lalong maunawaan ng mga nakikinig.

bataan is still standing despite the big quake in the 90s while the rest of the Philippines suffered so much...how come?

I do! In fact, I'm out of the country now (in Singapore). I go to the US (New York, Vegas, etc). I've also been to Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and soon in Australia. But this is not about me, it's about the reporter. And I do not need to go anywhere to know that the reporter's accent can be much much much improved. After all, this is rappler and people expect a lot from them.

Systems Loss should not be shouldered by consumers. It is up to the distributor to make sure their installations are efficient and tamper-free.

very informative...and creative presentation :)

very well presented!

This video will dazzle people with all these explanations with this "visual treat". But in reality why the electricity bill is high can be explained in one word: monopoly. At one point I thought I could trust rappler. I was dead wrong.

i agree, sources should be stated esp where the numbers on cost and percentage (gen cost, trans cost, etc) came from...source for the historical bg interests me as well...

Brownouts in the 90's prompted for more Independent Power Producers. There was more demand than supply which means they can probably sell the power generated. Still, investors were worried about credit-worthiness of power purchasers. To attract investors, government guaranteed to buy power generated by IPP. They accepted more IPP deals than needed. The deals also lacked transparency.

Thomas Edison was right, AC is an "Alternating Computation" charge than DC.

It is a very simple math like one plus one equals two. When Cory assume/grab power in 1986 she award to Lopez the Meralco in return a lifetime ROYALTY shares to AQUINO FAMILY!

I like how informative it was. But they should have gotten a better voice artist though. Her accent's kinda distracting.

is there a downloadable version of the diagram drawn above?

P9.14 = US$0.22. It's actually less expensive than Singapore and Japan. Check your math.

on guaranteed buyers: how will you sell then if there are no guaranteed buyers?

But I have to say that it's very informative. My thanks to the uploader. :)

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was found to have hundreds of defects in 1986 before the decision to mothball it. Worse, it is located in a faultline, less than 10 kilometers from 2 active volcanos. Less than half of nuclear plants in japan and germany are now operational. There has been no safe way to dispose nuclear waste properly in any nuclear power plant. What we need is more ordinary people to attend Energy Regulatory Commission hearings to guard against or discover any anomalies there.

even if it was not continued the administration next to marcos should have had a way to compensate the planned output of the nuclear plant...it was the main reason for many brownouts during the succeeding year...

No, even from your first comment it's about you. You said her accent is distracting. A personal opinion that may or may not be shared by others. I would rather focus on the message rather on something subjective as accent.

I suggest that the country should build more geothermal power plants.I think that the root cause of the problem is the fact that the Philippines does not have a lot of fossil fuel resources to enable the injection of subsidies to artificially lower the energy costs to consumers (unlike its oil rich neighbours). Add to this the equally unfortunate reality of high income inequality which leads to a great proportion of the population who can barely able to pay for their energy consumption. The blame shouldn't be put on the government (which actually lacks the executive power to do much of anything contrary to what many people think), or on energy companies (which are buying fuel at exorbitant rates set by the world market). People can be too unrealistic at times. They think that problems like these can be solved by just nationalizing the energy companies or changing the government. The Philippine economy is growing at an extraordinary rate right now which equates to an ever increasing demand on power. The supply simply can't keep up with the demand.

one main reason is there is no competition among power producers or whatever you call it, two power which is utility or basic needs for the industry and the people should not be controlled or owned by greedy corporations or some wealthy family, it should be the government who should be controlling it since power is a basic need or a utility. Law makers has got to do something about this instead of making dramas on tv about impeachments and personal agendas, politics etc.

Well, the video failed to discuss a VERY important factor which was the fact that Aquino (through a political move) dismantled in 1986 a FULLY FUNCTIONAL nuclear power plant that had been in the making since the late 70s. As you fast-forward the video to the end, the real problem is revealed. There is not enough capacity due to lack of production. Imagine what would have happened if nuclear power generation would have moved forward? All industrialized nations are using nuclear power, including Korea and Japan. The problem is The Philippines and the way it has allowed power to be wielded. Even today, there is WAY too much executive power. Presidents can just make executive order without an act of law by the legislature. VERY DANGEROUS. I don't understand why the people are allowing this. That is way too much power to be held in one person's hands! And THAT is why Aquino was able to stop nuclear power - in order to embarrass the previous president. But in doing so, she severely damaged the country and it's ability to move forward alongside other Asian countries. Even if the move to stop nuclear power was not political, the fact that billions of dollars was wasted like that is a sign of massive dysfunction.

check out STAR SCIENCE By Kelvin S. Rodolfo, PhD (The Philippine Star) Updated February 19, 2009, Feb 26, March 5, March 12

informative, but no sources of the information given was stated.

Someone mentioned how to educate the regular Filipino. We now have a regular person, who knows how to post to RU-vid, who, even when given the facts, still chose to single out Meralco.

this is so filipino. this is a very nice fabrication of rsa animate. ;p nice job though. imagine training teachers to doodle like this during class lectures. very effective.

how about the petroleum industry: what can you say? nationalize it as well?

/ Great report. Kudos to the animation! Impressive. But I've said it before and I'll say it again, the reporter could use some english speaking training. Her accent is distracting! :(

we should consider Tesla. or should I say not an option? :)

Mura'g si Alyssa Alano ang ga-voice-over. ;D

kindly elaborate on that...as elaborate as seen in the video...better make some diagrams...

will the ordinary people understand energy, regulation, power, etc?

Guaranteed buyers and profits lower efficiency. Companies won't need to cut costs. They just past the costs to consumers and the government. Worse, they can create or bloat costs and then create more profits. Government ownership wouldn't help especially since they will be probably be corruption. Need to protect free and fair market competition. Electricity prices are also making the country less attractive to manufacturing and thus the loss of many job opportunities.

Had there been no 60/40 policy in the Yellow Constitution, there would've been more electric service providers. Without such crappy, irrational provision, we could take in foreigners who give better services than that of the crappy MERALCO who has the monopoly (thus, the high prices, since MERALCO has no competitors right now, so it can do whatever it wants) of electricity right now.

Whatever but the root cause is corruption.

if only bataan powerplant was continued, and not stopped because of revenge of the aquinos

Unfortunately, this just exposes the failure yet again of the Filipino society as a whole. Subservient sheeps will always be prey to the powers that be.

You should go out of the country more. Even in different states the US have differing accents.

Bogart the explorer breaks it down better, complete with action scenes and sound track watch?v=LPXlJT7f9tI

susmarya, grabe pala ang ganid ng mga taong yan....

bullshit. sorry but greed is the #1 cuase of high rates. also, how about updating our shit

One thing's for sure: had Cory decided to continue Marcos' Bataan Nuclear Power Plant project, there wouldn't be a lot of blackouts that occurred during her regime. But since she didn't want to 'cuz "it'll remind the Filipinos of Marcos," that's what happened. What a flawed logic. What a virtuous bitch indeed.

3nglish sucks