ILOILO City – The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading the MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) expansion bill or House Bill (HB) 10306.
Once signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, the new measure will allow Iloilo City’s sole power distributor to expand its service coverage to the second and fourth districts of Iloilo province.
Amending Republic Act No. 11212 or the legislative franchise granted to MORE Power, HB 10306 got a total of 17 affirmative votes and one negative vote. It is now a step closer to finally becoming a law.
The President is expected to sign the measure before his terms ends on June 30.
Pavia, Iloilo’s Sangguniang Bayan Member Daniel “Dan” Fajardo II welcomed the passage of the bill and described this development as “good news” especially for Pavianhons.
In a privilege speech August of last year, Fajardo pointed out that a decrease in the cost of electricity would have a direct impact on the lives of Pavia’s residents and stakeholders such as the various businesses that have made the municipality their base of operation. He cited as example neighboring Iloilo City which enjoyed a dramatic drop in electricity rate by MORE Power.
“I am very happy that the bill got the final approval of the Senate. We are looking forward for the people of Pavia to also avail themselves and experience cheaper electricity,” said Fajardo.
Fajardo’s privilege speech prompted the town’s Sangguniang Bayan (SB) to unanimously pass a resolution seeking the possibility of Pavia being covered by MORE Power’s service.
Last July 2021, the rate of electricity in Iloilo City was reduced from P10 per kilowatt hour to P6.45 per kilowatt hour, “a big relief in this time of pandemic,” said Fajardo.
Pavia is currently under the franchise area of Iloilo Electric Cooperative (Ileco) 1 which has higher electricity rates compared to MORE Power.
“We are adjacent to Iloilo City. It is our duty to provide our stakeholders with cheaper power to help them grow their businesses that will hopefully translate to more investments, jobs and tax revenues for the municipality of Pavia,” Fajardo said.
MORE Power president Roel Castro acknowledged the clamor by those outside of Iloilo City for better service and lower rates.
“As a public utility, we cannot turn our back on this. May obligation tayo and if people are wanting to receive our service then we cannot deny that,” said Castro.
He, however, emphasized that the intention is not to take over Ileco.
“Ang intention nito is we will establish our facilities, we will bring in our services, we will try to bring in the best cost that we can offer to our consumers and let the consumers choose,” Castro said.
If their expansion bill will be finally approved into law, Castro assured that they are ready to mobilize which include facilities, personnel and even the processes.
“Our preparation is now getting into specifics na and once ma-approve, definitely we will be mobilizing and we will give our roll out programs and plans sa mga areas para alam nila,” said Castro.
He envisions a collaborative approach with Ileco.
“Kasi at the end of the day, ang makikinabang is really the consumers. From my perspective, hindi ko gusto na pag-aawayan natin ang consumers. We are willing to collaborate. In some points, I will extend our hand kung paano kami magtutulungan for the benefit of the consumers,” he added.
Castro further assured the public that if there will be an expansion, MORE Power will not change as far as the level of service in Iloilo City is concerned.
MORE Power has been pouring billions of investment in Iloilo to further improve and upgrade its facilities and services./PN
