Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a measure aimed at easing the financial burden on Filipino households facing rising electricity costs by removing the value-added tax (VAT) on systems loss charges.
Senate Bill No. 2076 seeks to exempt consumers from paying tax on this charge, which is an added cost passed on to users for energy lost during electricity distribution. These charges represent power that never reaches households, yet consumers are still billed for it.
Hontiveros described the VAT on systems loss charges as a “double pain and insult” for consumers. “We are already paying for systems loss that we did not benefit from, and then we will have to pay tax on it,” she said. By removing VAT, the senator argued that the tax system would be fairer and would provide immediate relief to households struggling with high electricity prices.
Hontiveros’s measure comes after PGMN Anchor Antonette Aquino made a viral post about her Meralco bill, where she pointed out that nearly half of her bill was not from generation charges. She also called for reforms in how consumers are billed and argued that system loss charges should not be passed on to the public.
Numerous complaints have surfaced on social media about inflated electricity bills, and lawmakers such as Senator Bam Aquino and Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno have also pushed to ease the burden on the middle class, including removing pass-through costs that add strain on consumers.
