WHEN WE first heard President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s pronouncement to remove the system loss charge from electric bills, it sounded like good news for consumers. Removing the system loss charge, including the 12% value-added tax (VAT) imposed on it, would certainly provide much-needed relief to Filipino households. Every power distribution system experiences some level of system loss. Without corresponding policy and regulatory changes, simply removing the system loss charge raises the question of how these legitimate costs will eventually be recovered. This illustrates how consumers served by electric cooperatives may pay higher system loss charges because of the different regulatory caps.