The Philippines is witnessing a sharp demand rise on rooftop solar installations as households seek to reduce soaring electricity bills, according to Reuters.

The country has the highest residential electricity prices in Southeast Asia, due to limited government power subsidies. Top power distributor Meralco has raised electricity tariffs by about 10% since the US-Israeli war on Iran escalated in late February.

As a result, a typical household consuming around 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per month now spends roughly 12% of its monthly income on power.

Philergy German Solar, a German Filipino supplier of high quality German solar systems, has received higher customer inquiries during the first five months of the year, peaking at around 3,000 a day, as Reuters reported.

According to Alnie Demoral, an analyst at the energy think tank Ember, the Philippines’ distributed solar capacity could nearly triple to 3,500 megawatts (MW) within the next two years. This would bring it in line with the country’s current utility-scale solar fleet. However, he noted that high upfront installation costs remain a major barrier for wider adoption.