Malacañang is open to practical suggestions to reduce the country’s power rates, including the possibility of giving up government royalties from Malampaya natural gas plant.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar said the government may study the proposal of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to forego royalty taxes from indigenous energy sources, such as the Malampaya natural gas plant, to ease the burden of power consumers.

Olivar said Enrile’s proposal was a “constructive” proposal to help resolve the country’s power woes while other opposition groups merely launch criticisms against the government only to advance their political interests.

“Senate President Enrile has made a good suggestion that if the royalties collected by the government from Malampaya gas firm may be allocated instead in power generation expenses so it will not be passed on to consumers. That’s a good suggestion, this is constructive so this may be discussed by concerned authorities like the DoE (Department of Energy) and the ERC,” he said in his weekly media briefing aired over government radio.

Enrile, running for reelection in the May polls, earlier said the impact of the rate increases by power distributors like Meralco on consumers could be mitigated by the government reducing taxes and royalties receives from local and imported resources.

The senator said using royalties on indigenous sources of energy is a more efficient way to directly benefit the power consumers.

At present, the government relies on Malampaya proceeds to boost government revenues need to reduce its bloating budget deficit. Estimated government revenues from Malampaya natural gas project this year is around P9.632 billion.

“We hope there will be more constructive suggestions like this rather than just criticisms against the government,” Olivar said of Enrile's proposal amid complaints from Meralco clients on their unexpected high power bills.

On another proposed review of the electric bills issued by Meralco, Olivar also said the government respects the independence of the ERC to deal with the matter.

“If they see cause to investigate Meralco to see basis that the increase in generating capacity cost was beyond justifiable, it’s up to the ERC. They have the power to investigate. They are an independent body,” he said.

“We will presume like anybody else that the ERC is doing its job in good faith to serve the public in terms of regulating the activities of all sectors concerned,” he said.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay has also taken the cudgels for small power consumers and called on the ERC to review the Meralco computations of the April bills.

ERC earlier granted Lopez-owned power distributor the authority to impose price increases supposedly due to skyrocketing costs in the international spot market.

Olivar even defended the latest round of power rate increases imposed by Meralco amid a power deficit leading to brownouts in the company’s jurisdiction.

He noted that power shortage is usually accompanied by higher prices due to unplanned capital expenses when power plants break down.

The power sector has to hold more repair and maintenance services of their power plants to accommodate high power demand during the summer months, he said. This meant additional expenses for power generating and distributing companies and more charges on electricity consumers. “That’s the law of supply and demand,” Olivar said.

Olivar assured though the government would continue to look for long-term solutions to raise the country's power capacity and try to the rates reasonable.