All these talk about Meralco and the high cost of electricity has made me wonder what the average Filipino household’s power bill looks like.
To make the comparison fair, why don’t we divide our electricity bill with the number of persons living in the house, including babies. I think the little darlings consume a bigger amount of electricity compared with the average person (need for airconditioning etc.)
For April, I paid P805.88 per person.
How does that compare with yours?
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Meralco shares went into a nosedive today after news of a possible investigation (good luck with making it look like a friendly Q&A) by Congress into how Meralco runs the show. If there’s anyone in the audience who doesn’t know that this is politically driven, raise your hand.
No hands?
If this entire hullabaloo actually brings down my electricity bill, goodie. But here’s a So What Chocnut snippet that people should not miss.
Exactly 20% of that electricity bill goes to Meralco. If you look at your bill, you will see the biggest portion is called generation charge, which goes to the independent power producers and the National Power Corp.
Yes, that means the government.
That simply means the power to bring down electricity rates is in the government’s hands. And that should make you wonder what the administration is trying to do. This early, the business community is already worried. Of course they are not buying the we-want-to-drive-down-electricity-costs-for-poor-Filipinos line. Former central bank governor and AIG’s standard bearer Joey Cuisia has already been interviewed on television saying, “After Meralco, who next?” Not good for business confidence.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I can not understand what is wrong with making money for GSIS.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
salve, i never said there’s no room for morals in the pursuit of profit. When good people make money that doesn’t need explaining because to me that’s normal. When ‘evil’ people make money playing fair and square that needs explaining because to me that’s weird. The point really is to show the flaw of free market capitalism. I hope you get it.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
pinoy investor, ROI being god in capital markets means there’s no room for morals. i get it. that’s just the way it is. that’s why naman i’m amazed with CEOs like Kimberly Clark’s Darwin Smith who pushed the company to beat the stock returns of well-known companies like P&G, Coca-Cola and Hewlett Packard without having to resort to flipping or hostile takeovers and being fair to employees. Going against greed is to me more amazing than just going for the gold and succeeding at it. but some people say i’m an idealist and i don’t deny it. cheers
May 20th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
salve, by ‘good’ investor, I mean shrewd not moral. But why do corporate raiders succeed despite being ‘evil’? Because boardroom battles are not decided by employees, customers, management gurus, social commentators or the general public. They are decided by fund managers and arbiteurs who hold large blocks of shares. By the nature of their job, they are obliged to vote the one who gives the highest ROI, or else they get sued or fired. Good or bad, that’s free market capitalism.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:25 am
hey pinoy investor, harry king and rhia, some of my favorite business books are Good To Great and Built To Last, so you can imagine why Carl Icahn is not on my list of good investors hehe. But to each his own!
It’s very interesting, though, to look at these boardroom squabbles. I agree with Rhia though — whatever happens, i hope the consumer is the winner. the crime rate is going crazy. always does when the economy is taking a turn for the worse. i don’t think Filipinos can take more beatings.