Lifeline rate discount clarified

By Herbert Vego

THE lifeline rate discount (LRD) for low electricity consumption used to apply equitably to everybody, whether rich or poor. But now it’s only for the poor, especially beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, better known as “4Ps”.

Thus, MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) has been active in inviting its customers to avail themselves of the rate discount. But why not maintain the status quo as far as Iloilo City is concerned?

It could no longer be done automatically because distribution utilities are government-regulated, according to Niel V. Parcon, MORE Power’s Vice President for Corporate Energy Sourcing and Regulatory Affairs.

Parcon told this writer in an interview: “It’s a tripartite decision by the Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Energy. The discount for customers consuming 95 kilowatt-hours or less per month used to be automatic, but it was prone to abuse.”

He cited instances of abuse, like when a rich man leaves for abroad.  With only a house helper left behind, his electric bill for the month could fall to 20 kilowatt-hours or below, in which case he would not be paying a single centavo.

Starting this month, the discounts are available only to qualified applicants. A “graduated” acceleration of discount starts from 81-95 kWh at 10% discount; 71-80 kWh, 20%; 61-70 kWh, 35%; 51-60 kWh, 45%; 21-50 kWh, 50%; and 0-20 kWh, 100%.

If you are a 4Ps beneficiary or an indigent certified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), you may apply for lifeline rate discount, bringing your pertinent documents, at MORE Power’s customer care office at Hotel del Rio.

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ERC CHAIR GRACES MORE POWER’S REFUND ACTIVITY

NO less than Atty. Monalisa C. Dimalanta, the new chairperson of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), graced the third turnover of bill-deposit-refunds for faithful customers of MORE Power at the company office in Iloilo City yesterday.

Some of the third batch of 65 eligible “bill returnees,” to borrow the pun coined by MORE President Roel Z. Castro, came to receive in check the exact amounts of one-month deposits they had made when they opened their account with the distribution utility three years ago.

In his message, Castro said, “When we started in March 2020, we had 62,000 customers. By the end of the year, 10,000 new customers had been added.”

Of the 10,000 new customers who enlisted in 2020, around 1,000 or ten percent would be refunded within this year (2023). The low percentage could be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic. Had these 10,000 paid their monthly bills religiously, they all could have qualified for bill refund.

It’s because the Magna Carta for Residential Consumers requires refund of bill deposits of consumers who have paid on time for three years (36 straight months) without experiencing disconnection.

The ERC commissioner lauded MORE Power and the bill-refund recipients for practicing “energy democracy”.

“You did your part as consumers,” she said. “The utility responded in accordance with the law. Sharing responsibility will yield mutual rewards.”

In the same occasion, Ms. Dimalanta inducted the initial officers of the Iloilo Energy Press Club (IEPC), with Perla Lena as president, and Glenda Tayona as vice-president, among other officers.

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HOPING FOR REVIVAL OF ABS-CBN

I was having coffee with Hotel del Rio big boss Alfonso Tan and broadcaster John Sapio when a familiar colleague joined us. Noni Basco had carved a name for himself as an ABS-CBN newscaster, Iloilo City burau, when the network suddenly stopped airing in July 2020.

Congress rejected its application for renewal of franchise, presumably by order of President Rodrigo Duterte, who had accused ABS-CBN of not airing his ads for the 2016 presidential election.

I asked Noni what local network he had transferred to.  There was none yet but, judging from his smile, I knew that an offer was hatching.

Nevertheless, I expressed the hope that, with Duterte out of power, ABS-CBN would reopen under a renewed franchise, especially because it used to host local TV programs in its own building here in Iloilo City.

Closure is nothing new to ABS-CBN. The late President Ferdinand Marcos was the first to padlock it after declaring martial law in 1972, but allowed it to resume with “friendlier” commentators.

The radio has been our major source of information. For a bit of nostalgia, the first “music” that I heard on the radio was “Mambo Magsaysay,” the campaign jingle for then presidential candidate Ramon Magsaysay in 1953. I was three years old.

In the 1950s, Iloilo City was already hosting two radio stations, if I recall right.  They were DY00 and DYRI.

There were four Metro Manila-based radio stations heard loud and clear in our region — DZRH, DZBB, DZAQ and DZXL.

DZAQ, the pioneer radio station of Alto Broadcasting System (ABS), began airing in 1953. It eventually put up its TV Channel 3 in Quezon City.

DZXL belonged to Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN), which had its own TV Channel 9 in Intramuros, Manila.

Years later in 1967, ABS and CBN merged into ABS-CBN with studios and offices covering an entire block on Bohol Avenue, Quezon City.