The option to ‘change power’

By Herbert Vego

AT last, there is no more doubt about the expansion of electricity-distribution service of MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) from its home base in Iloilo City to Passi City and 15 towns of Iloilo.

The good news, as relayed by MORE Power President Roel Z. Castro, trumpets the decision of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to issue a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to MORE Power for such expansion, as required by law.

This does not mean, however, that the three branches of Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO) would cease operating in their “home courts”. They would have to compete with the new player.

No worries. To quote an old cliché, “Competition forces us to do our best.”

Therefore, the residents of Passi City and the 15 towns of Iloilo province may shift to MORE Power, but only if they so desire.

At present, four of them – Leon, Pavia, Sta. Barbara and San Miguel – are served exclusively by ILECO I.

ILECO 2 covers Passi City, Dingle, Dueñas, San Enrique, Dingle, New Lucena, Zarraga, Barotac Nuevo, and Dumangas.

ILECO 3 energizes Anilao and Banate.

It has been three years since 2022 when Congress passed Republic Act 11918, granting MORE Power the expansion of coverage to the above places.

The company’s linemen will hit the ground running, since electric poles and lines have already been installed along the main roads of Pavia, the nearest town to the city.

Incidentally, when MORE Power took over the Iloilo City franchise from Panay Electric company in 2020 by virtue of Republic Act No. 11212, it had 62,000 customers. Since then, that number has expanded to 115,000.

Let us recall that way back in 2021, then congressmen Michael Gorriceta of the 2nd District of Iloilo and Braeden John Biron of the 4th District co-authored the bill granting MORE Power a 25-year congressional franchise to operate in the aforementioned city and 15 municipalities.

The bill ripened into law as Republic Act No. 11918 in July 2022, which was questioned by ILECO in a petition before the Supreme Court (SC).

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

Why is there widespread public clamor for the privately-run MORE Power to compete with the cooperative, of which they are the presumed “owners”?

Unfortunately, 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.

For that reason, some ILECO customers have been complaining 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.

Electric cooperatives in the Philippines trace their roots to the year 1969 with the passage of Republic Act No. 6038, which created the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to initiate rural electrification with an initial capital stock of ₱1 billion.

Thus, downsizing could be the alternative to the electric cooperatives’ failure to upgrade.

On the part of MORE Power, more customers resulting from its expansion would be beneficial to power consumers. In accordance with the economies of scale, producing more goods or services effectively reduces per-unit price. At present its residential rate of ₱12.44 per kilowatt-hour is the lowest in Western Visayas.

The company is now at work on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its core operations in order to enhance service efficiency with professional assistance from the experts at the Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISAT-U).