Patay Electric, again
BY PET MELLIZA/ The Beekeeper The most notorious kidnap-for-ransom group Abu Sayyaf is no match to this modern-day pirate. The former must live the life of fugitives, sweat it out, and risk life and limb of its members to make a living with a few million pesos at the maximum. The latter, however, can breeze through good life in the comfort of air-conditioned offices and even be awarded “most outstanding taxpayer” for making multi-million bucks, no sweat. I am referring to Panay Electric Company (PECO) or Patay Electric that your Beekeeper often prefers to call it. PECO charges consumers P1 per kilowatt/hour (kwh). It appears small but multiply that to its annual input of 400 million kwh, and that translates to P400 million. Now, it is applying to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for a .2681 per kwh increase for next year. That’s a small amount but that is P26.681 million per year, which is about the same cost of the...