P4P sa House panel, ‘coal’ muling rebyuhin (Dahil sa maling impormasyon)

NAGPAHAYAG ng pagkaalarma ang Power for People Coalition (P4P) dahil sa maling paglalarawan sa ‘coal’ o karbon bilang murang mapagkukuhaan ng enerhiya sa bansa.

Ito ay matapos ang isinagawang pagdinig ng Committee on good government and public accountability sa Kamara ukol sa naranasang ‘billing shock’ ng mga kostumer ng Manila Electric Company (Meralco) nitong Mayo at Hunyo.

Sinabi ni Laguna 1st District Rep. Dan Fernandez, sa  ‘distribution utility,’ imbes gumamit ng natural gas, ay  ‘coal’ na mas mura ang pagkuhaan ng enerhiya.

“We are glad that Congress is finally holding Meralco accountable for securing power contracts that would generate least cost rates. This is something that P4P has advocated for so long. We, however, are concerned that the use of mistaken information about coal in the hearing would cause consumers more harm than good,” ayon kay Gerry Arances, P4P Convenor.

Binigyang diin ng grupo na sa katunayan, ang datos na ibinigay ng  Department of Energy, na binanggit ni Fernandez, ay aktwal na nagpapakita kung gaano kamahal  ang ‘coal’ kompara sa renewable energy.

“Meralco’s generation charge for renewable energy from November 2017 to April 2018 never exceeded ± 5.05 per kilowatt hour. Compare that to coal’s wildly volatile prices which reached as high as ± 59.72 in the same period. Clearly one energy source is cheaper than the other,” ani  Arances.

Bukod dito, iginiit ng energy advocate na saklaw ng ‘coal’ ang nakatagong halaga para sa mga konsumer, gaya ng ‘passed on charges’ at ‘external costs’ na pinapapasan ng mga komunidad na apektado ng ‘coal operations.’

“We also air these concerns in case Hon. Fernandez does not realize he may accidentally be promoting the continued suffering of residents in coal-affected communities. The impacts of pollution from coal-fired power plants to the health, livelihood, and environment of host communities are in fact something that the committee could also deeply look into in its sessions,” ayon kay Arances.

Dahil dito ay umapela at nagpadala ang P4P ng ‘position paper’ sa komite at hiniling na ikonsidera ang ‘renewable energy’ bilang solusyon sa problema na kinakaharap ngayon ng Meralco, bilang bahagi ng national recovery plan sa nararanasang krisis sa COVID-19 pandemic.

Sa mga nakaraang taon, tinanggihan na ang paggamit ng karbon sa buong mundo dahil sa masamang kontribusyon nito sa climate crisis, pagtaas ng gastos sa operasyon ng coal power plants, at kahinaan sa ‘electricity prices’ upang humiling at magbigay ng mga pagbabago, bukod sa iba pang mga kadahilanan na humantong sa ilang mga bansa na abandonahin ang kanilang pinagmumulan ng enerhiya.

“At the end of the day, there is no reason to settle for coal, which is highly polluting and costly, when the Philippines has an abundant indigenous renewable energy potential at 250 GW, excluding solar power. Even if natural gas is used as bridging fuel, all roads must lead to fully maximizing renewables. We hope the committee would seriously consider renewable energy development, beginning with promoting microgrids in cities and solarizing government buildings, to shield consumers from the hidden costs and pollution of fossil fuels. That is what a real win for the Filipino public would look like,” dagdag ng P4P Convenor.