PH should consider nuclear energy, says British business group

The British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) said the Philippine government should consider delving into nuclear energy to help the country meet rising energy demand.

BCCP executive director Chris Nelson said the prospects for nuclear energy in the country should be looked at considering that there had been recent developments in the technology.

“If you look at the grid in the Philippines, it goes through various warnings, right? Yellow, red,” the BCCP official said, referring to the recent thin power supply margins in some parts of the country.

“Nuclear [energy] is going to be a challenge but you can’t ignore it,” he said, but added that the Philippines should also continue pursuing renewable sources of energy.

Among other issues, electricity costs in the Philippines have been cited by business groups as one of the main considerations of foreign investors when setting up operations in the southeast Asian country.

The country’s largest business organization, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) have urged the government to address the issue to lower costs of production in the country.

PCCI president George Barcelon said in previous months that lowering electricity costs would temper price increases in manufactured goods since it factors in the final price of manufactured costs.

Costly electricity

Meanwhile, FOBAP president and chair Robert Young said back in September that electric costs in the Philippines were significantly higher compared with other Asian countries including Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Young said this was making other countries more attractive for foreign investors who were looking to set up or expand in Asia.

Most of the Philippines’ power plants are coal-fired and diesel-fed, meaning that the cost of electricity in the Southeast Asian country is closely linked to the global market prices of coal and gas.

The country’s largest power distributor, Manila Electric Co., announced earlier this month an increase of P0.3297 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in electricity rates, bringing the cost of electricity for a typical household to P10.2769 per kWh this December from last month’s P9.9472 per kWh.

This meant an increase of about P66 for residential customers consuming 200 kWh per month. INQ