As early as 2015, together with my fellow Bayan Muna lawmaker Neri Colmenares and other Makabayan Bloc members, we filed bills exempting system loss charges from VAT. Although the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) limits the amount utilities may recover through system loss charges, Filipino households still pay for a portion of electricity lost through transmission inefficiencies and illegal connections. That is why eliminating system loss charges, while necessary, is only a partial solution. Companies earning tens of billions of pesos annually can certainly absorb ordinary business risks such as system losses. Removing system loss charges is therefore only the long overdue beginning.