The Marcos administration should prioritize power cost reduction for businesses and consumers regardless of what the source is to aid in domestic economic growth, Entrepreneur Jose Maria “Joey” Concepcion III said.
In a report by the Manila Bulletin, Concepcion stressed that while advancing the country’s green energy sector would reduce pollution, it should also result in the decreased cost of power to businesses and consumers as it is a big component, especially in businesses.
This will be beneficial for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by providing better margins, and continuous expansion of the industry while creating affordable products to the public, he added.
Currently, several energy firms are striving to deploy different power generation technologies across the country. However, compared to traditional oil and coal-fired power plants, new technologies such as solar power, small nuclear reactors, wind, and hydrogen-ammonia, among others, are more costly to businesses and consumers.
The Philippines is currently the second-highest in power costs in Asia, after Japan.
Meanwhile, investors said this is a discouraging factor to supposed investment opportunities.