ACCESS to File Charges vs Power Generators, NGCP, WESM Over ‘Oppressive’ Power Charges in NIR

The Alliance of Concerned Consumers in Electricity and Social Services (ACCESS), a Bacolod-based coalition of residential, MSMEs and labor consumers advocating for affordable and reliable electricity in the Negros Island Negros, is set to file formal complaints this week before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) against power generating companies, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) “for excessive and unreasonable generation and transmission charges imposed on consumers in the NIR”.

In a statement, Wennie Sancho, President of ACCESS said the complaint stems from WESM clearing prices reaching P14 to P18 per kWh from January to April 2026 with transmission charges continuing to rise. Generation and transmission are public services.

“ACCESS is demanding a voluntarily cap of P6.50/kWh on generation charges for NIR for Q2-Q3 2026, the suspension of NGCP transmission rate hikes until the Cebu-Negros-Panay 230kv is completed, and immediate WESM price mitigation measures for the Visayas grid,” Sancho said.

ACCESS will serve copies of the complaints to the Department of Energy, House and Senate Energy Committees and all distribution utilities in NIR. “We are putting the power industry on notice,” Sancho added, saying “affordable power is a human right, not a market outcome. When a minimum wage earner pays P3,000 a month for electricity, while earning P14,300 that is no longer cost recovery. That is consumer impoverishment.”*