Senator Bam Aquino has filed a measure aimed at easing the burden on the middle class by removing electricity subsidies and mandated discounts embedded in power rates, proposing they be funded instead by the national budget.
Through Senate Resolution No. 375, Aquino urged the Committee on Energy to examine the design, targeting and financing of these subsidies, particularly the lifeline rate under Republic Act No. 9136, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
Aquino proposed shifting partial or full funding of subsidies to the national budget to prevent further cost transfer to consumers. “Busisiin natin ang karagdagang bayad na ito. Marami nang naghihirap na Pilipino at middle class. Hindi na dapat dagdagan ang gastusin ng taumbayan kung may pera naman ang gobyerno para sa ayuda,” he said.
He noted subsidy-related charges add about ₱20 to ₱100 per month to the bills of non-beneficiary households, stressing that social protection policies should not impose avoidable burdens on ordinary consumers already strained by the oil crisis.
Alongside this policy push, PGMN Anchor Antonette Aquino called for reforms in how electricity consumers are billed, pointing out that her own Meralco breakdown showed nearly half of charges stemmed from costs outside generation.
She pressed for a review of generation charges, a reassessment of how system loss is treated, and faster adoption of renewable energy to address long-term costs. Aquino underscored the middle class burden, noting they do not qualify for lifeline rates and are excluded from most subsidies, yet they pay the full VAT, shoulder discounts granted to others, and absorb costs.
“What is legal does not mean it is FAIR. We are not against paying for electricity. We are against a system designed to make us absorb every risk, every miscalculation, and every policy failure,” Aquino said. Meralco earlier clarified that pass-through charges and subsidies, including those for senior citizens and government aid beneficiaries, are mandated by law. Higher generation charges, meanwhile, were attributed to the weakening peso against the US dollar.
