MANILA – The “Murang Kuryente” bill is now up for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature after the congressional bicameral conference committee approved the reconciled version of the measure on Thursday.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate committee on energy and co-author of the bill, said both chambers of Congress approved the joint version of the measure which seeks to reduce the country’s electricity rates.
Under the proposal, the P208-billion Malampaya Fund will be used to pay off the stranded contract costs and stranded debt of the National Power Corp. (NPC) , which is being charged to consumers through the universal charge in the monthly electric bill.
“Around 60 to 70 percent of the Malampaya Fund will be used to pay for the stranded contract costs and stranded debt of NPC while the remainder will be used to fund the exploration of energy resources,” Gatchalian said.
The senator added that the measure, once signed by Duterte, will lower the cost of electricity and provide significant savings for Filipinos that could be used in buying other commodities.
“Almost P1 ang matitipid ng ating mga consumers at para sa ordinary consumers, ‘yung mga kumukunsumo ng 200 kWh per month, almost P170 ang matitipid kada buwan,” Gatchalian said.
He added: “More or less lumalabas almost four kilos of rice ‘yung matitipid ng isang ordinaryong pamilya.”
Around 16 million households would benefit from this bill once it is enacted into law./PN
