Palawan Electric Cooperative will no longer charge households whose monthly electricity use fall below 35 kilowatt-hours for the month of March billing period.
PALECO Board of Directors Chairperson, Jeffrey Tan-Endriga told Palawan Daily that this is part of cooperatives’ corporate social responsibility to its member-consumers particularly to those who belongs to the so-called ‘lifeline consumers’.
The ‘Pantawid Liwanag’ was made through a board resolution number 82 series of 2020 and was duly approved by the board during the teleconference meeting of PALECO early this April.
“Mayroon po tayong libreng kuryente doon sa ‘lifeline consumers’ natin for the month of March ‘yung naka-konsumo ng 35 kilowatt-hours o mas mababa pa,” Endriga told Palawan Daily.
Based on the records, around 32,393 member-consumers of PALECO from the city and nearby municipalities under its franchise will benefit from this program where the total bills amounting to over 4 million pesos.
Endriga made it clear that the amount will be shouldered by the cooperative from the budget allotted to its cancelled projects and programs because of ECQ.
“Naghanap po tayo ng pondo upang mapondohan itong libreng kuryente na ito at mayroon po tayong mga nakitang mga programa na kinasela natin dahil base sa ating IATF ay hindi nap o tayo pinapayagang magkaroon ng large gathering o mass gathering. Naisipan po natin na ikansela nalang po ang AGMA natin at the same time ‘yung mga district election natin ay kanselahin din natin at dito natin kukunin ang pondo na ito at gamitin natin sa pagtulong sa ating mga mamamayan,” Board Chair clarifies.
“Hindi po mangyayari ‘yun dahil ang rate po natin ay tumutumbas kung ano lang po ang consumption natin. So, makikita n’yo naman sa inyong electric bills at hindi po natin ipapasa sa ating mga tinatawag na regular consumers ‘yung ililibre natin sa ating mga ‘lifeliners’. Rest assured po na ito ay gagawin po natin,” he added.
Meanwhile, PALECO will also give payment extension for their regular member-consumers or those who were not included to the poorest of the poor.
“Yung hindi qualified at kasama sa tinatawag na ‘lifeliner consumers’ o regular consumers natin ay hindi na po natin ikakarga o lalagyan ng surcharges ang na-delay nilang pagbabayad simula noong Marso at Abril. Pwede po staggered system ‘yung payment nung March and April nila, Endriga said.
“Ina-aalow po na apat na parte, so pwede pong apat na buwan nila itong bayaran paunti-unti. So, sa ating residential consumers, pinapayagan po natin na hatiin ito sa apat na buwan ‘yung pagbayad ng kanilang naantalang singilin noong Marso at Abril,” he explains.
Few days after the declaration of enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Spokesperson Karlo Nograles then announced on a televised briefing that around 3 million consumers of electric cooperatives who were called ‘lifeline consumers’ across the country will be free from their March electric bills.
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