Partylist lawmakers Mariano Piamonte Jr and Juliet Cortuna are pushing the swift approval of a measure that would grant tax rebates for purchasers of renewable energy devices or systems, in a bid to encourage more consumers to shift to environment-friendly power sources.

Piamonte and Cortuna, who both represent the A-TEACHER partylist group, said their proposed law, House Bill  4716,  will help remove one of the major obstacles that have hampered the Philippines’ renewable energy program. 

A-TEACHER is a partylist ally of the National Unity Party (NUP) under the Coalition for Peace and Development.

Piamonte said that both residential and industrial consumers find it too costly to use renewable energy devices because of their high price tags.


"To entice the private sector and the public in general to shift to renewable energy, tax rebates should be offered as incentives," Piamonte said.

Cortuna noted that the need to shift to renewable energy sources to reduce carbon emissions  has already been agreed upon by governments worldwide, but the pace of the shift is barely noticeable.

Under HB 4716,   the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) shall, upon request by an individual taxpayer, refund the amount not exceeding 50 percent of the tax he has paid for the immediately preceding taxable year or P50 million, whichever is lower, as rebates for the taxpayer's purchase of renewable energy devices or components thereof such as but not limited to the following:

a) solar panels and, or support components;
b) wind turbines, assembly, parts and, or support components;
c) hydroelectric system, parts and, or components;
d) inverter parts, assembly or components;
e) charge controller parts, assembly or components;
f) power shortage batteries of any kind;
and g) other renewable energy system or components as certified by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).


The amount of rebates should not exceed 60 percent of the amount of the purchase of renewable energy devices or components or system, the bill states.


HB 4716 also states that rebates also cover the cost of labor, consultancy and other related technology support services in connection with the installation of purchased renewable energy devices, parts or system by an individual.

The measure defines  the term “rebate”  as the refund or repayment by the government to a taxpayer who has duly paid his taxes.

“The rebate should be in the form of cash or similar instrument that could be readily available for use by the beneficiary,” Piamonte said.



The term “renewable energy” is defined under the bill  as the form of producing energy derived from an environmentally friendly source such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, sea waves and other similar sources, which do not employ the use of fossil fuel or the like.