Electricity Market Reform in the Philippines: Lessons for Other ASEAN Countries

This chapter analyses the Philippine electricity market reform from a governance perspective, using a methodological framework built on the basic tenets of elite theories. The analysis suggests that Philippine electricity governance processes have been influenced by the priorities and agendas for governing the country’s socio-economic activities and that these priorities and agendas have essentially reflected the changing interests of the dominant, ‘politically powerful’ elites. By implication, this suggests that Philippine electricity reform is largely a process through which the elites have continued to realign their interests (for example, extending their business interests into the electricity industry) with the electricity industry interests (such as, reducing the debts of public electric utilities). This realignment has led to significant industry restructuring and privatisation, with limited efforts to improve competition and regulatory independence. The outcome has been a highly concentrated market dominated by a few large conglomerates that are restrained neither by adequate competition nor by effective regulation. In such a setting, the question of industry performance has become subservient to the more pressing need to redress (narrow) private interests. This also explains why the Philippine electricity industry has always been slow in addressing issues of public concern. This research further posits that the establishment of a ‘strong’ regulator is essential to translate the implementational success of reform into improved industry performance, as it provides a necessary check-and-balance between financial and socioeconomic objectives for governing the electricity industry.