In a position paper submitted to policymakers and key energy agencies, the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development called on the national government to implement measures to cut the costs of the energy crisis to electricity and fuel consumers.

Addressing the Senate’s Proactive Response and Oversight for Timely and Effective Crisis Strategy (PROTECT) Committee, the House of Representatives, and other concerned agencies, CEED stressed that the Philippines’ dependence on fossil fuels enacts a heavy financial burden upon basic sectors.

“Changes in fossil fuel costs in the global market manifest as highly volatile rates. Pass-through provisions in power agreements enable corporations to relieve themselves of ballooning fossil fuel costs across its value chain, while placing the financial responsibility on consumers. The same story plays out in the transport sector, with jeepney drivers and operators, fisherfolk, and other sectors relying on petroleum products for mobility shouldering higher fuel costs, value added tax, and excise taxes for fuel, while companies dictate costs in a deregulated oil market,” said CEED Executive Director Gerry Arances.   

Concretely, a full reflection of coal and gas price hikes in electricity rates in the Meralco franchise area–with Newcastle coal prices increasing by 17% and JKM LNG prices increasing by 91% after the start of the war–could see an estimated increase in blended generation rates by 5.01 Php/kWh, based on MERALCO’s latest March 2026 rates. Higher costs can also be expected for off-grid and Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) areas, which rely on diesel-fired power plants operated by the National Power Corporation (NPC). As diesel prices rise triggered by the US-Iran war, the NPC’s budget to operate its diesel plants is at risk of depletion much sooner than their initial estimation by September 2026. 

The think tank expressed its solidarity with transport groups, fisherfolk and consumers, as they called for both immediate relief and long-term measures to ease burdens on consumers and transport workers. 

“The national government must immediately suspend the inclusion of pass-through costs in our electricity bills. Power companies must absorb rising costs that are part of their business model–which is entirely reasonable considering the profit by the millions and billions they report every year. As for the transport sector, excise taxes and VAT on petroleum products must be suspended to ease costs for consumers and transport workers,” said Arances. 

CEED stressed that the subsidized deployment of energy alternatives–particularly easily deployable solar rooftop systems–to most vulnerable consumers is an immediate measure that the government can implement to eliminate the burden of soaring fossil fuel costs. 

“At a time of crisis, solar rooftops are an immediate and long-term reprieve for consumers. An aggressive development of solar rooftop systems is a key and viable solution to ease costs for vulnerable communities, including off-grid and SPUG areas. Concretely, with 500-watt solar PV equipment to solarize rooftops for at least one million vulnerable households, we could generate Php 373,140,000 worth of electricity savings per month. The allocation of public resources to bring such a solution to life must be a priority for the national government, on top of fast-tracking the implementation of pending solar projects with a combined 5,664.92 megawatts for generation,” said Arances.