This is Just. Plain. Crazy.

Saw this in the news the other day:

” x x x Meralco explained in a statement that the higher electricity prices this month had been triggered by the lower dispatch (or electricity output) from its independent power producers, given a decrease in power demand last month. This resulted in higher power costs. x x x”

What I understand from this explanation is that, essentially, electricity rates will increase for this month because we, the consumers, were matipid with our electricity consumption last month. Our decreased demand last month led the independent power producers to decrease their output this month, resulting in higher electricity prices.

Which, in my humble opinion, just does not make sense.

We as consumers are in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation. If you consume a lot of electricity, you’ll have a big electric bill, plus you will spike demand which triggers higher electricity prices. If you exercise prudence in energy consumption,you lower demand, which lowers power production but still triggers higher electricity prices for the succeeding month. So what are we supposed to do???

Maybe it’s high time to study the law governing energy and evaluate how this can be a win-win situation for everybody and not just for the independent power producers.