Energy for all
Universal access to sustainable electricity that supports full lives, livelihoods and local development.
Energy democracy · Just transition · Philippines
Power should
work for people.
CPII combines rigorous research, popular education and community-led planning to build an electricity system that is affordable, reliable, renewable and publicly accountable.
About CPII
Electricity is technical.
Power is political.
The Center for Power Issues and Initiatives works on the Philippine electric power industry through the lens of a just energy transition and energy democracy.
Formed in 2013, CPII translates technically complex power-sector issues into accessible materials for communities, workers, consumers and decision-makers. It produces public-interest research, participates in policy debates and helps communities shape practical energy alternatives.
For CPII, a power shift means two things: energy that is reliable, affordable and environmentally sustainable; and a system in which energy-poor communities do not merely receive electricity, but gain the power to decide how it is produced, distributed and governed.
Empowered consumers
Women, workers and energy-poor communities have information, organization and a real voice in energy decisions.
Public accountability
An electricity industry answerable to the people it serves—not only to investors and market institutions.
What the evidence shows
Twenty years after EPIRA,
the promise remains unfinished.
Selected findings from Saan Umabot ang Bente Mo: EPIRA 20 Years After. Each figure retains the reference year used in the publication.
11
families
controlled almost three-fourths of Philippine generation capacity in 2020.
70%
of electricity sales
were commanded by private distribution utilities in 2020.
32% vs 100%
access by income
Only 32% of families in the bottom income decile had electricity access in 2015, compared with all families in the top decile.
12
provinces
had at least 15% of families without electricity in 2018.
56%
of national sales
came from electric cooperatives in 2020: 23,622 GWh out of 41,845 GWh.
15.99M
connected customers
were served by electric cooperatives as of June 2023.
The question is not simply whether electricity reaches people. It is who owns the system, who bears its risks and costs, who captures its gains—and who gets to decide.
Download the complete publicationHow CPII works
Research that moves.
Education that organizes.
CPII works across the distance between national policy and everyday electricity use—linking evidence, public debate and community action.
Make power-sector evidence public
Investigate electricity prices, ownership, regulation, energy poverty, market concentration, reliability and the social consequences of power policy.
Turn technical questions into public questions
Create readable materials, workshops and learning spaces that help communities understand bills, utilities, regulations and renewable-energy choices.
Intervene where decisions are made
Engage policy makers and participate in local and national forums available to consumers, workers and communities.
Walk the talk
Develop practical technological, financial and organizational options for households, businesses, cooperatives and local governments.
CPII Data Lab
Four lenses on the Philippine power system.
Move between physical energy flows, historical ownership, public-sector balance sheets and long-run power performance. Each microsite preserves its supplied historical series and makes the underlying records inspectable or downloadable.
2006–2022 series
See where energy comes from—and where it goes.
Follow coal, oil, natural gas and renewable energy through conversion, electricity and petroleum products, final uses and system losses.
- 17
- annual balances
- kTOE
- common energy unit
- CSV
- downloadable view
Philippine Energy Flows2022
SupplyTransformationCarriersFinal use & losses
Explore the data
02
Public finance · 2001–2020
The Public Ledger
Track assets, liabilities, net worth and returns across NPC, NEA, TransCo, PSALM and PNOC.
- 5
- energy GOCCs
- 20
- fiscal years
System performance · 1985–2020
From Watts to Work
Explore electricity–GDP elasticity, fleet utilization, plant own use, network loss and delivered power.
- 36
- annual observations
- 6+
- linked measures
Ownership structure · mixed vintages
Who Owns Philippine Power
Compare source-coded controlling groups across generation, distribution and retail, then inspect the plant-level records.
- 626
- plant records
- 3
- value-chain segments
Featured fieldwork
Rising with the Tides
In 2025, CPII convened a multi-stakeholder dialogue for Romblon’s Just Energy Transition Roadmap 2025–2040, bringing together local governments, national agencies, electric cooperatives, fisherfolk, communities and private-sector participants.
Listen first
Begin with how households, businesses, public services and livelihoods actually use electricity.
Use evidence
Combine local knowledge with demand, supply, economic, spatial and climate data.
Build local ownership
Make communities and electric cooperatives co-authors of the transition—not passive recipients.
Link energy to development
Design reliable, affordable power around jobs, public services, resilience and productive local enterprise.
People in action
Technical depth.
Public purpose.
CPII’s work is rooted in collaboration among researchers, advocates, workers, communities, cooperatives and public institutions.
CPII Chair and Executive Director
Maria Teresa “Maitet” Diokno
An economist and social-enterprise practitioner whose CPII work centers on energy poverty, women, renewable energy and the democratization of electricity.
CPII Fellow
Wilson Fortaleza
A labor leader and energy advocate who connects the just transition to workers, democratic participation, electric cooperatives and social movements.
Featured publication
Saan Umabot
ang Bente Mo?
EPIRA 20 Years After · August 2024
A wide-ranging examination of power-sector ownership, electricity prices, access, transmission privatization and electric cooperatives—asking what two decades of restructuring delivered, and for whom.
Open the full PDFInside the compendium
- 01 Power and Profit
- 02 EPIRA’s Promise of Cheaper Electricity
- 03 Electricity Access in Private Hands
- 04 Wealth Transfer in Transmission
- 05 Electric Cooperatives Under EPIRA
Partners and constituencies
A transition built with people.
CPII works with renewable-energy advocates, urban-poor organizations, electric cooperatives, trade unions, local governments, researchers and development partners.
CentREKilos MaralitaAssociation of Isolated Electric CooperativesTrade unions and social movementsFriedrich-Ebert-Stiftung PhilippinesLocal governments and communities
CPII office
WAMPC Multi Purpose Bldg.Blk 39, Lot 1 MSSP II, NHA
Brgy. Bolilao, Mandurriao
5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
The future of energy is not only renewable.
It is democratic.