Philippine households may choose their power supplier by 2031
The energy regulator is drafting a five-year roadmap to fully open the retail market, lowering the threshold for supplier choice step by step to household level.
Symbolic image · Photo: Asurnipal / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The Philippines' Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is drafting a five-year roadmap under which all households should be able to choose their electricity supplier by 2031, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
The threshold for the competitive retail market has already been lowered from 500 to 100 kilowatts, opening it to about 12,000 mid-sized commercial and industrial users. It is set to fall to 50 kilowatts next year and to 30 kilowatts by 2030. As of end-August, 2,692 customers and 311 aggregated groups had switched suppliers.
ERC Chair Francis Saturnino Juan said the cuts would continue "until we reach the household level." The plan also foresees stronger protection for small customers and a national rollout of smart meters.