, Columnist
Power Plight Needs Duterte's Energy
Households pay far too much for electricity. The president must step in.
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Want to switch on the TV? Wait for the entire family to gather in the evening. That's one of the strategies that Philippine Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi says his countrymen use to squeeze the most juice out of electricity.
When President Rodrigo Duterte gets a moment from his drugs war, a busy economic agenda is crying out for attention. Energy will be near the top of the list. There's no obvious reason why power should cost 60 percent more for Filipino households than those in Thailand. Indonesian tariffs are seven times cheaper. Even Singapore, which like the Philippines has no consumer subsidies, pays 18 percent less for electricity than its Southeast Asian neighbor.