Public service commitment

Back in 2019, then president Rodrigo Duterte signed a law granting a company controlled by business tycoon Enrique Razon a 25-year franchise to distribute electric power to consumers in Iloilo City.

But acquiring the franchise did not come easy for More Electric and Power Corp. After all, its predecessor, Panay Electric Co. (PECO) was operating the system since 1922 until its franchise expired on Jan. 18, 2019.

No new franchise was issued to PECO but it opposed the grant of the franchise to More Power. PECO even went to the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality provisions in More Power’s franchise allowing it to acquire through the exercise of the right of eminent domain PECO’s power and electricity distribution system.

However, the High Tribunal declared as constitutional the questioned provisions, saying the legislative franchise of PECO itself declared that its distribution system in Iloilo City was susceptible to expropriation for the same public purpose of power and electricity distribution and that the expropriation by More Power of PECO’s distribution system is in accordance with the constitutional requirements of due process and equal protection.

Meanwhile, in August last year, a bill seeking to expand the franchise area of More Power to 15 municipalities and one city in Iloilo province which were previously served by rural electric cooperatives lapsed into law. The clamor to expand More Power’s coverage arose in July 2021 after it brought down the electricity rate from an average of P13 per kilowatt hour to P6.45 per kWh in its coverage area.

The rates have increased lately. In its website, More Power said that for May 2023, the average rate for residential customers is at P12.29 per kWh and for commercial customers, P11.61 per kWh. This is compared to P6.20 for residential and P5.90 for commercial in January 2022.

The increase was a result of the higher price of the power that it distributes. For May 2023, More Power said total generation charge amounted to P7.118 per kWh as against a generation charge of only P3.24 per kWh in January 2022.

Last May, 29.3 percent of energy purchased came from Sem Calaca Power, 19.69 percent from Kepco SPC Power, 26.97 percent from Southwest Luzon Power Gen, 21.92 percent from Energy Development Corp., 1.88 percent from WESM and 0.23 percent from net metering customers.

In January 2022, 89.5 percent came from PSALM, 10.39 percent from the spot market and 0.11 percent from net metering customers.

Since then, More Power has embarked on a P1.9-billion modernization program and has been updating and replacing any ageing, obsolete and dilapidated facilities and equipment left behind by PECO to be at par with state-of-the-art power distribution utilities.

The same report said More Power was able to reduce by 93 percent the interruption frequency and to bring down systems loss to 6.98 percent.

More Power continued to surprise and delight its customers when it voluntarily offered to refund to eligible customers their bill deposits.

The Magna Carta for Residential Electric Consumers provides that the bill deposit shall be refunded within one month from the termination of service provided that all bills have been paid and that customers who have paid their bills on or before the due date for three consecutive years may demand for the full refund of the deposit even prior to the termination of service.

A bill deposit from all residential customers is required for new and/or additional service to guarantee payment of bills. The amount of the deposit is equivalent to the estimated billing for one month But after one year and every year thereafter, when the actual average monthly bills are mor or less than the initial bill deposit, such deposit shall be increased/decreased to approximate said billing.

The Magna Carta also provides that all consumers shall be exempt from payment of meter deposits since private distribution utilities have incorporated the cost of these electric watthour meters in their rate base.

Probably all distribution units have a mechanism for bill deposit refunds, but the question is how convenient is it for the customers to apply for and get these refunds?

Asking the account owner to present the original official receipt, of if not found, a notarized affidavit of loss may be the reason why some customers no longer bother to get back their bill deposits.

More Power’s initiative is therefore very much welcome and should be emulated by other distribution utilities.

As explained by its president and CEO Roel Castro, “since we don’t have any intention to use the money, we do not have the intention to keep the money; we do not have the intention of using it for our operation; why keep it when it is already due for return, for the refund to customers?”

Castro said that there is no need for their customers to ask for their bill deposits because even if they don’t ask for it, the company is the one initiating the refund.

Way to go.

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