Next MORE Power expansion likely

By Herbert Vego

THE residents of the 1st District of Iloilo are waiting with bated breath for the passage of a bill filed by Congresswoman Janette Garin.

House Bill 6292 is aimed at expanding the franchise of Iloilo City’s distribution utility (DU), MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) to her constituency, which includes the towns of Igbaras, Tubungan, Oton, Tigbauan, Guimbal, Miag-ao and San Joaquin.

She believes that her people deserve MORE Power’s “fast, reliable, responsive, modern and forward-looking service.”

If her bill matures into law, MORE Power would also be competing with the 54-year-old Iloilo Electric Cooperative 1 (ILECO 1).

So far, only Atty. Salvador P. Cabaluna III, Board Secretary of ILECO 1, has opposed the congresswoman’s belief that competition could reduce the distribution cost by ₱2.50.

“How could that be?” he asked. “We would lose because the co-op earns only ₱1.61 per kilowatt-hour.”

He admitted on a radio program, though, that there had also been proposals for a “joint venture” but gave no details.

In the mind of Miag-ao resident Leopoldo Moragas – a retired senior assistant vice-president of the Philippine National Bank (PNB) — a joint venture would be preferable in order to save time and hundreds of millions of pesos needed to build a second power structure.

But as revealed to this writer by Engr. GC June Garanchon — ILECO 1 technical services department manager — the cooperative had prepared for competition in the wake of the Supreme Court’s July 30, 2024 decision that electric cooperatives do not have a constitutional right to an exclusive franchise within their coverage areas.

Putting himself in the shoes of the consumer, Garanchon said, “I would choose the one with lower rates.”

As the saying goes. “Competition is the best form of motivation.”

There has been a strong public clamor in the 1^st District for the private DU to come in.

Garin’s bill is presumably her response to a February 7, 2025 resolution of a consumers’ group, Bantay ng Bayan–101 (BNB 101), urging her to push for MORE Power’s entry.

The congresswoman’s stand, aimed at ensuring a stable power supply, parallels that of her sister-in-law, Sharon Garin, who happens to be the incumbent Secretary of the Department of Energy (DoE).

Public support for the Garin bill seems ironic, since the member-consumers are deemed by law to be the owners of the cooperative.

Being non-stock and non-profit, however, ILECO 1 suffers from lack of logistics to upgrade worn-out poles, power lines and obsolete facilities.

No less than former ILECO 1 General Manager Wilfred Billena told this writer that its “services have deteriorated over the years. That situation is not an indication of preparedness for competition.”

To reiterate what I have been saying in this column, electric cooperatives in the Philippines trace their roots to the year 1969 with the passage of Republic Act 6038, which created the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to initiate rural electrification with an initial capital stock of ₱1 billion.

Under President/CEO Roel Z. Castro, MORE Power has expanded immensely, starting with 62,000 customers when it took over the Iloilo City franchise from Panay Electric company in 2020 to 110,000 today.

In a press conference, meanwhile, Castro announced that the green light is now on for power consumers in the towns of Pavia and Sta. Barbara to apply for MORE Power lines.

The two are among the 15 towns and one city (Passi) covered by MORE Power’s expansion under RA 11918.