THE Marcos Jr. administration will be launching a program to help poor households pay their electricity bills, Malacañang said yesterday.
Dubbed the “Lifeline Rate,” the program will provide a subsidized rate to qualified low-income households unable to pay their electricity bills at full cost starting September.
Among the households who can apply for the Lifeline Rate program are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), or customers considered to be living below the poverty threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Palace said.
The subsidy will depend on the prevailing rates set by power providers such as Meralco.
“In the Meralco franchise area, lifeline end-users with zero to 20 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of monthly consumption will be granted a 100-percent discount on the generation charges, including system loss, transmission, and distribution components of their bill, except for the fixed metering charge of P5, which means more or less only P20 from their electric bills will be paid,” the Palace said.
It added: “If they do not avail themselves of the Lifeline Rate through Meralco, they will have to shell out more or less P250.”
The rates under the Lifeline Rate program will be as follows:
* 21-50 kilowatt hour (kWh) usage: P300 (P550 if not under program)
* 51-70 kWh usage: P522.90 (P763.37 if not under program)
* 71-100 kWh usage: P904.21 (P1,099.10 if not under program)
Each household is only allowed to avail of the Lifeline Rate for one account per power distributor. Qualified beneficiaries may apply by submitting the following to their power provider:
* Lifeline Rate application form
* Most recent electricity bill
* Any valid government-issued ID containing the signature and address of the customer
As of July, only 12,829 out of the 4.2 million households under the 4Ps program have applied for the Lifeline Rate program, according to data from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“Lifeline Rate program validity is based on the annual certified list of 4Ps beneficiaries provided by DSWD. A qualified customer is eligible to receive the Lifeline Rate if he/she remains in the updated list,” Malacañang said. (ABS-CBN News)
