Press Release
5 February 2021
By: one ECMCO Movement
On the calls for the extension of the ‘no disconnection’ policy, #PowerBloc Representatives Presley De Jesus (Philreca Partylist), Sergio Dagooc (Apec Partylist), Godofredo Guya (Recoboda Partylist), and Adriano Ebcas (Ako Padayon Pilipino Partylist) express concern on its overall impact to the whole energy sector and its indirect effect to our economy.
“There will be a huge implication in the financial stability of all stakeholders in the energy supply chain should a prolonged no disconnection policy is imposed by the government. And this disruption – bear in mind – is not just going to affect the energy sector. If electricity consumers default on their utility bills payments, then, the distribution utilities will eventually default as well to its power suppliers,” Rep. De Jesus explained.
Assistant Minority Leader Dagooc added, “If the distribution utilities failed to pay their obligations to their power suppliers such as the generation companies, then the generation companies would also not be able to pay their obligations and would be unable to buy fuel or feedstock. And if they are unable to procure their fuel or feedstock to generate electricity, the economy will definitely be affected”.
Moreover, there are also calls for distribution utilities to extend the grace period on utility payments. Rep. Ebcas explains that electric cooperatives are non-profit distribution utilities with limited resources to support the consumers.
“Given the nature of electric cooperatives, it will be difficult for them to meet their financial obligations to their power suppliers without the payments from their member-consumer-owners”, he said.
Despite the financial limitations of the electric cooperatives, Rep. Guya emphasized the remarkable efforts of the 121 electric cooperatives throughout the country in alleviating the financial burden of the electricity end-users through the ‘Pantawid Liwanag Program’.
“The electric cooperatives understand the predicament of their consumers, which is why all electric coops participated in the ‘Pantawid Liwanag Program’ initiated by PHILRECA, their umbrella organization. This program provided electricity subsidy to low-income and marginalized consumers to help them ease the effects of the pandemic”, he said.
The Power Bloc understands the plight of the electric consumers and have taken an active role in safeguarding their interest and in helping them tide over this crisis. Since the onset of the pandemic last year, the solons initiated the calls for extension on utility payments and sought the support of the ERC, DOE, IEMOP, PSALM, and the generation companies in anticipation of the needs of the consuming public.
With their strong effort to help the end-users, House Bill 8145 or An Act Extending the Implementation of Lifeline Rate, principally authored by the Power Bloc, was approved in Bicameral Conference last February 2. This bill aims to support the ‘lifeliners’ or the low-income and marginalized end-users in their electricity bills.
As the representative of the 121 electric cooperatives and the 14 million member-consumer-owners, the Power Bloc remains steadfast in their advocacy to protect the interest of their constituents.
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