Stakeholders hail MORE Power

From visibility, transparency, rapid response, courteous personnel, to leading a transformational impact in the campaign to rid Iloilo City of power thefts, the new utility distributor MORE Electric and Power Corporation is “creating change and a righteous one on God’s sight.”

This was the declaration of Pastor Nestor Gonzales, one of the panelists in “The Community Energy Forum 2020” at the Hotel Del Rio recently representing the Church group of Iloilo City.

The forum, accordingly, shall be a regular platform for the community to discuss relevant issues involving the power utility in Iloilo City.

Its maiden topic “Jumpers-The Iloilo City Scenario” included panelists from various sectors such as Halley Alcarde of the Western Visayas Transport Cooperative (WVTC), Roger Calzado of the Division Federated Parents Teachers Association (DFPTA), Punong Barangay Gary Patnubay of Brgy. East Baluarte, Molo; and John Sapio from the media.

Ariel Castañeda, who is in-charge of MORE Power’s Apprehension Team and “Oplan Valeria,” a door-to-door crackdown on illegal power connections or “jumpers,” represented the new power utility in the discussion.

“We are thankful for MORE Power in initiating this campaign and we understand that it is a campaign to change the old system where power pilferers are rampant in our city. On our end, we are in full suppor of this program because we know that it is the righteous thing to do,” Pastor Gonzales noted.

Castañeda, for his part, said that although apprehending illegal electric connections is a taxing task and most definitely involves the greatest risk on the part of the apprehenders, the efforts to rid the city of illegal connections are certainly paying off.

“It is a step in the right direction,” he said in describing the goal of MORE Power to put things in order only months after taking over the electric power distribution from Panay Electric Company (PECO).

“For about two weeks of operations, we were able to apprehend more or less 3,000 illegal connections or jumpers, about 1,000 of which we have already converted to load applications. Of the said number, 600 already went to the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) to secure the needed requirements while 400 have already paid for new connections.”

He added that almost immediately after “Oplan Valeria”, power outages were evidently lessened, especially in areas where they recently operated.

“That is why I can say without a doubt that our efforts have really paid off,” he quipped, adding that the campaign’s success can be actually measured in the increase in inquiries relative to the processes involved in applying for new connections.

“We would endeavor to further fast track the process of applying for new connections, even as the city government has vowed to streamline their own processes,” said Castañeda, who is also the head of MORE Power’s I-Connect project, a program that hastens the application of new connections.

Halley Alcarde, who represented the transport sector of Iloilo City, meanwhile, described the recent campaign of MORE Power as a “big thing” which PECO has failed to implement during its time.

Barangay Captain Gary Patnubay of East Baluarte, Molo, around 30 to 40 percent of his constituents are into power pilferage and 75 percent of them are already processing their application with MORE Power which only shows that the people in the barangays can really follow given the right direction.

“I’m been very hands-on in assisting my constituents in these processes and I can say that those who have been in the illegal connections are now moving to become legitimate consumers of electricity which only proves that MORE Power is indeed in the right direction,” Patnubay said.

Patnubay reported that outages in their barangay lessened and power supply become more stabl after the launch of “Oplan Valeria.”

John Sapio, who represented the media in the forum, said MORE Power has dramatically changed the once poor services of power utility in the city with its hotlines working, prompt response to complaints, modern facilities, and with no more arrogant employees, which he said, was common during the time of PECO.

DFPTA president Roger Calzado stressed during the forum the impressive response rate of MORE Power emphasizing that with the new power distributor, it only takes two hours to troubleshoot an exploded transformer compared to three days with the former distributor.

“When there is a problem, you can expect MORE Power to be there in minutes and restore the power in 2 hours where PECO can attend to the problem the next day and have the power restored in 3 days,” he said.

The community forum, MORE Power said, will be a regular program roundtable conference of communal leaders and the power company that aims to chalk out multi-pronged strategy to solving the challenges confronting the power distribution in the city of Iloilo and to make a significant dent in the prevalence of power pilferers which has become common for decades in the city.

“We believe that discussing different approaches regarding the rampant use of “jumpers” in our city together with community leaders is the jumping board to achieve the desired results to this biggest challenge confronting us all,” Castañeda noted.

The forum’s maiden edition was covered live by the print and broadcast media via Zoom.