One more for MORE Power?

By Herbert Vego

WILL Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin succeed in passing her bill seeking to expand the franchise of MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) to her constituency?

Her constituency includes the towns of Igbaras, Tubungan, Oton, Tigbauan, Guimbal, Miag-ao and San Joaquin.

If we heard her right, she filed House Bill 6292 on Monday, Nov. 24, because MORE Power’s “fast, reliable, responsive, modern and forward looking, should also be made available to Ilonggos living outside Iloilo City.”

Her bill aims to amend provisions of Republic Act 11212, as amended by RA 11918, which has already expanded the franchise of Iloilo City’s distribution utility to Passi City and 15 towns in Iloilo’s 2nd and 4th districts.

The new law, however, does not cancel the franchises of Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO). It merely allowed MORE Power to extend operations and compete in the aforementioned areas.

If Garin’s bill is approved into law, MORE Power would also be competing with Iloilo Electric Cooperative 1 (ILECO 1) that has been the district’s sole energy distributor for 54 years since 1971.

Surprisingly, nobody from ILECO 1 has stood up to argue against the congresswoman’s bill aimed at addressing public clamor.

On the contrary, in a recent radio interview by this writer, Engr. GC June Garanchon, ILECO 1 technical services department manager, said that the cooperative had prepared for the looming competition.

It is interesting to note that the congresswoman’s stand — 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 presumed to be owners, too, of the cooperative.

Anyway, if my memory serves me right, the bill was in response to a February 7, 2025 resolution from a local consumers’ group, Bantay ng Bayan–101 (BNB 101), urging 1st District officials to push for MORE Power’s entry.

Moreover, a resolution from the Sangguniang Bayan of Miag-ao dated July 15, 2025, had asked Rep. Janette Garin to initiate a legislative measure to expand the franchise of MORE Power to cover the entire First District of Iloilo.

After all, as ruled by the Supreme Court (SC) in a decision dated July 30, 2024, electric cooperatives do not have a constitutional right to an exclusive franchise within their coverage areas.

Going back to the Miag-ao SB resolution, it argued:

“The driving premise behind this initiative is the collective aspiration of the constituents to enjoy the same improved quality of electrical service currently available in areas already served by MORE Power. By broadening the franchise, the community aims to benefit from enhanced infrastructure, greater service reliability, and competitive pricing, which will contribute significantly to their economic development and day-to-day well-being.”

Some ILECO 1 customers have aired concerns about the quality of service they are receiving. These complaints often center on issues like power outages, high electricity bills, and slow response times to service requests.

Indeed, decades of wear and tear have turned the electric cooperatives’ viability into liability.  Being non-stock and non-profit public utilities, they now suffer from a shortage of logistics to replace and upgrade worn-out poles, power lines and facilities.

It is no secret that electric cooperatives in the Philippines are old.  They trace their roots from 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.

Downsizing could be the solution to their financial woes today.

On the other hand, under the leadership of its president/CEO, Roel Z. Castro, MORE Power has grown by leaps and bounds. Taking into consideration the economies of scale, producing more goods or services has reduced its per-unit price. Its present residential rate of PHP 11.85 per kilowatt-hour is the lowest in Western Visayas.

When MORE Power took over the Iloilo City franchise from Panay Electric company in 2020, it had 62,000 customers. Since then, that number has expanded to 115,000.