‘SUPREME SACRIFICE’: Garin to drop MORE Power bill if ILECO I cuts rates

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin said she is ready to withdraw her bill seeking to include her district in the franchise expansion of MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), but only if Iloilo 1 Electric Cooperative Inc. (ILECO I) brings down its electricity rates.

Garin said House Bill (HB) No. 6292 was filed in response to resolutions from seven local government units in the district seeking inclusion in MORE Power’s expansion and amid what she described as skyrocketing rates imposed by ILECO I.

Information from the House of Representatives website showed that HB 6292 was filed on Nov. 24 and read on the chamber floor on Nov. 26, when it was also referred to the Committee on Legislative Franchises for first reading.

The committee recently held a hearing on the expansion bill, where MORE Power expressed readiness to expand should Congress pass the measure.

“If they reduce the price of the electricity within 24 hours, I would withdraw the bill […] That’s a possibility,” she said at a press conference in Santa Barbara on Friday, Dec. 12.

Garin said that ILECO I can reduce its power rates by cutting or removing the PHP 2-per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) charges it imposes for distribution, maintenance, and capital expenditures.

She said that around PHP 1.60 per kWh of this amount covers the Distribution System and Maintenance, which funds grid upkeep, repairs, and reliability improvements.

She said more than PHP 0.30 per kWh is allocated to Reinvestment for Sustainable Capex, supporting long-term infrastructure such as poles, transformers, and system expansions.

If removing the PHP 2 charge is not feasible, Garin appealed to the cooperative to consider lowering the fee to PHP 1 or even PHP 0.50 per kWh.

She questioned the need for additional charges, noting that expansion projects are funded or subsidized by the government, which she said should already give the cooperative room to reduce costs.

Garin said discussions with the Energy Regulatory Commission indicated that ILECO I may directly request adjustments in its electricity costs as long as it can justify the circumstances.

 

She added that ILECO I has a gross monthly income of PHP 80 million and said employee salaries and operational expenses would not consume the entire amount.

“They can definitely reduce the power rates,” she said. “I appeal to the select officials of ILECO I to make the supreme sacrifice of bringing down the cost of power. This is not just for your children and the future generation; this is for all of us.”

Garin also clarified that the proposed expansion does not mean ILECO I would be forced out once MORE Power enters.

“ILECO I will not die because they are a non-stock, non-profit entity,” she said. “They’re not supposed to operate as a business because it is the government that provides your capital. The problem is, when we talk, we hear one thing — but behind our backs, a different story reaches the employees.”

She added there was no basis for ILECO I’s claim that expansion into the 1st District is illegal, noting the Supreme Court’s final ruling upholding MORE Power’s franchise expansion into the province’s 2nd and 4th districts.

“If MORE Power enters the first district and their documents are complete, and they can lower power rates, who are we to get in the way?” she said.

“For several years, I’ve worked to protect their interests,” she said. “But it has reached a point where their interests have become very detrimental to my constituents in the first district of Iloilo.”