The Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday committed to supporting Land Bank of the Philippines’ program to distribution utilities that will help ease the burden of consumers due to high electricity prices.
The bank launched on April 14 its assistance program to mitigate the impact of high electricity rates to power consumers by providing options in the payment schemes of their bills through installment or payment on a staggered basis.
The credit facility to distribution utilities is aimed at augmenting their working capital, especially during the dry months when electricity consumption historically goes up.
“The ERC extends its deepest gratitude to the Land Bank of the Philippines for responding to the call for help in ensuring the availability of sustainable and affordable energy for electricity consumers,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said.
Dimalanta said the cooperation with Landbank is of the best examples of adopting a whole-of-government approach. “Those of us in energy sector working hand-in-hand with our counterparts in the private financing sector in finding solutions to provide some much-needed relief for our consumers,” she said.
Power retailer Manila Electric Co. recently implemented a staggered recovery of its generation charges.
Meralco decided not to defer collection of a portion of the generation charge amounting to P0.40 per kilowatt-hour for a total cost of P1.1 billion.
Some DUs and electric cooperatives, however, cannot offer installment basis to their consumers because of liquidity problems.