Electricity lifeline application open until end-July

MANILA  -The Department of Energy (DOE) will accept until the end of this month applications for “lifeline” subsidy for households that can’t afford to pay in full their electricity bills.

According to the DOE, only 1,816 consumers out of 24 million beneficiaries of the national government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program have applied for discounted monthly electricity rate program as of July 10.

A “lifeline rate” is a subsidized rate given to qualified low-income power consumers in the Philippines.

Additionally, the DOE said only 31 distribution utilities have received lifeline program applications, while 110 “have not received a single application.”

“Applications to avail of the lifeline rate program shall continue to be processed by the [distribution utilities] but discounts will be effective only upon registration,” the agency said in a statement.

Power distributor Manila Electric Co. currently offers lifeline rates to its customers and limits eligibility to those who consume up to 100 kilowatt-hours monthly, as provided under Republic Act No. 11552, which amended the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, or RA 9136.

The DOE, Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) signed the implementing rules and regulations of RA 11552 in October 2022.

Under the law, qualified beneficiaries will continue to receive subsidy for least 50 years.

In the first half of 2022 alone, the ERC said the program had provided an average monthly subsidy of P541 million to nearly six million marginalized electricity end-users.

The ERC determines the qualifications and requirements for interested applicants that must be submitted to their respective distribution utilities, while the DSWD is mandated to craft a standard targeting system to properly identify potential beneficiaries.