Group slams Veco for intent to pass on taxes

Murang Kuryente on Thursday condemned the Visayan Electric Company for delaying its payment of real property taxes (RPT) with the intent of waiting for the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to first approve passing on these taxes to consumers.

The Cebu City Assessor’s Office issued a notice of assessment to VECO for unpaid RPT amounting to 207 million pesos, representing unpaid taxes since 1989.

“I am aghast that a distribution utility (DU) would be so brazen as to evade its responsibility to pay proper taxes and instead wait until it can make consumers pay for them. I hope that the City Government of Cebu will bring them to court and make them do what all other honest citizens have to – pay their own RPT,” said Murang Kuryente spokesperson Gerry Arances.

Lito Vasquez, MK Cebu Coordinator, agreed, saying, “VECO cannot pride itself to be ‘a responsible business entity and a trusted electric utility’ when it’s plan is to jack up power rates by passing on its RPT payments to power consumers already burdened by one of the highest rates in Asia and dirty energy sources such as coal-fired power plants.”

Arances said that Murang Kuryente, which stopped the plan of electric cooperatives to pass on their RPT to consumers earlier this March, “…affirms our position that real property taxes should not be a pass-on charge and we will consistently pursue this argument in our intervention before the ERC.”

Murang Kuryente, which was consistently fought power companies since its establishment last year, has been active in fighting against charges added by these companies to pad the bills they send to consumers.

“VECO and other abusive power companies should realize they are not above the law, and consumers fed up with their excessive charges are ready to fight them tooth and nail to secure every Filipino’s right to affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity,” said Arances.(PR)