Senate OKs 10-year extension of power rate subsidies for poor consumers

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to extend for another 10 years the granting of lifeline electricity rate subsidies to low-income consumers.

Voting 19-0, senators approved Senate Bill No. 1877, which seeks to amend the Electricity Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).

Under the EPIRA law, signed in 2001, the lifeline rate or a subsidized rate was given for a period of 10 years to low-income captive market end-users who cannot afford to pay at full cost. In 2011, the lifeline rate was extended until 2021.

Under the new bill, the provision of the lifeline rate subsidies will be extended until 2031.

READ: Senate panels OK bill extending lifeline power rate subsidies until 2031

Under the bill, qualified marginalized end-users are either those who are household beneficiaries under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), or who have applied and have been certified by their respective distribution utilities based on criteria set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), taking into account the poverty threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“By specifically defining the qualified marginalized end-users, we will ensure that only those genuinely underprivileged households and not those staying in condo units with the same level of consumption will be able to avail of this subsidy,” Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, sponsor of the bill as chairman of the Senate energy committee, said in a previous statement.

“Now more than ever, extra savings by our underprivileged kababayans are needed as they struggle even harder due to the difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The adverse impacts of the pandemic are likely to extend next year and even further,” he added.

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