media partner of the year
United nations
2015 environmental Media Award leadership award 2008
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
www.businessmirror.com.ph
n
Sunday, December 31, 2017 Vol. 13 No. 81
2016 ejap journalism awards
business news source of the year
P25.00 nationwide | 12 pages | 7 days a week
TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION DILEMMA
Pn_photo | Dreamstime.com
NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT FOR E-WASTE PROBLEM
‘B
By Jonathan L. Mayuga
ote, dyaryo kayo dyan! Sirang TV, radyo, electric fan, bumibili,” a man in his 40s repeatedly shouts as he pedals his pedicab along a narrow street, trying to avoid children playing on the road and the parked cars in this densely populated subdivision in Dasmariñas, Cavite, one sunny day in November.
His pedicab overflows with assorted junk, including broken home appliances that he bought from homeowners of the said subdivision. The man, who introduced himself as “Mel,” buys and sells junk, which he delivers to a nearby junk shop that lends him his P1,000 daily capital. Buying and selling junk— from empty bottles, scrap metals, plastic and broken home appliances, electronic equipment or nonfunctioning gadgets—has been his way of life for the last six years. Mel said he decided to
do this kind of livelihood because of the lack of better employment opportunity, and to make quick cash that will put food on the table for the family. “I earn just enough. Sometimes, I earn P400 a day. Sometimes, I earn as much as P600,” he said, speaking in Filipino. “Sometimes, I get to buy a lot of broken TV sets. Sometimes, I get TV sets in good condition. That’s when sellers ask for a higher price because the television set they are trying to dispose is still functioning. They just want to sell it because they bought a new one,”
he told the BusinessMirror. Broken TV sets, electric fans and washing machines are among the common home appliances that Mel buys, which he delivers to the junk shop. He pays from P50 to P100 for broken home appliances. One homeowner sold his 31-inch TV set, which is still working, for P250. “I’ll have it checked and see if I can sell it for P500,” he said. Mel admits that sometimes he sells the broken appliances to repair shops at a marked-up price for a bigger profit. In the same village, enter-
prising vendors offer discounts or exchange deals for new ones with buyers of broken household items like plastic basins, pails or water containers. There are also traders who regularly make the rounds offering to buy broken laptops, tablets or cellular phones, which they repair and sell. “They fix and sell them as reconditioned or secondhand items,” he said. Asked how business is doing, all-around electronic technician Manolo M. Dionela said business is Continued on A2
New energy chief seen giving priority to consumer protection
I
By Lenie Lectura
ssuance of landmark policies, court restraining orders and change in leadership. These were the highlights that shaped the energy sector in 2017.
“It’s a bit challenging and, at the same time, we have to work more to ultimately give consumers what they deserve. We have laid down the policies meant to protect consumers, and we will continue to look for ways to keep it going,” said Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi in an interview. The energy chief was referring to the retail competition and open access (RCOA), a landmark policy that should have allowed consumers to choose their own supplier of electricity but was stopped by the Supreme Court (SC) in February 2017.
PESO exchange rates n US 49.9230
Cusi: “Given that energy investors have complete requirements, cutting down the period of issuance of permits will certainly speed up the realization of energy projects.”
Also, it was a relief for the energy sector when Executive Order (EO) 30 was issued. The Malacañang order was meant to fast track energy-related projects. On the average, it takes more than five years to put up one power plant.
RCOA
RCOA, in a nutshell, allows consumers to source power from a licensed retail electricity supplier (RES) to encourage competition in the generation and supply sector. At present, the majority of power consumers are being supplied by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest distribution utility (DU) firm. It can be recalled that the SC issued on February 21 a temporary restraining order (TRO) against a DOE circular and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) resolutions days before these were supposed to take effect.
The mandatory switching of consumers with an average peak consumption of 750 kilowatts (kW) to 999 kW, which should have taken effect on June 26, 2017, was among the rules that were halted by the SC. But the mandatory switching of power users consuming an average of at least 1 megawatt (MW) per month is already in effect. Various entities sought clarification on the effects of the TRO, specifically the participation of contestable customers in the RCOA and the issuance of licenses for RES. While the TRO remains in effect, the DOE signed two department circulars that will hopefully pave the way for the resumption of the implementation of the RCOA scheme. The DOE said it was compelled to provide immediate guidelines to affected power industry entities, which sought clarification on the implications and effects of
the TRO on the pre-existing RCOA processes. “The issuance of the circular is necessary to address policy and regulatory gaps resulting from and consistent with the above-mentioned cases and TRO,” said Cusi. The newly issued circular on “Providing Policies on the Implementation of RCOA for Contestable Customers (CC) in the Philippines Electric Power Industry” is meant to implement RCOA on a voluntary basis instead of mandatory. Section 1 of the said draft circular calls for the voluntary participation of CCs with average peak demand of 750 kW and above, for the past 12 months, in the retail market. Section 2, meanwhile, also calls for the voluntary participation of consumers with average peak demand of 500 kW to 749 kW in the retail market by June 2018, or an earlier date specified by the ERC. By December 2018 or an earlier
date, electricity end-users within a contiguous area whose aggregate average peak demand is not less than 500 kW for the preceding 12-month period may aggregate their demand to be part of the contestable market and may voluntarily enter into RSC with aggregators. Aggregators refer to any person or entity engaged in consolidating electric power demand of end-users in the contestable market for the purpose of purchasing and reselling electricity on a group basis. The DOE and the ERC shall annually review and issue policies to achieve the full implementation of RCOA until it reaches the household demand level. The other circular is meant to allow a local RES, or an affiliate of a distribution utility that functions as a RES, to continue serving the captive market under a separate entity.
n japan 0.4423 n UK 67.1165 n HK 6.3882 n CHINA 7.6413 n singapore 37.3228 n australia 38.9050 n EU 59.6131 n SAUDI arabia 13.3121
See “Energy,” A2
Source: BSP (29 December 2017 )