90% of Meralco lifeline users in MM have received power subsidy

MANILA, Philippines – Ninety percent of “lifeline” electricity users in the National Capital Region (NCR) have already received their P500 power subsidy from the government, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported yesterday.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said as of yesterday, the DSWD has released more than P768 million to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for the one-time power subsidy of 972,163 consumers of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) in the NCR, Regions 3 and 4-A.

Lifeline users are households consuming less than 100 kilowatthours of electricity per month.

Cabral said LBP branches have served 90 percent or 525,301 lifeline users in NCR, close to 53 percent in Region 3, and 43 percent in Region 4-A.

Cabral said of the P2-billion allocated for Pantawid Kuryente: Katas ng VAT program, the DSWD has also released P989 million to the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and P200 million to the Private Electric Power Operators Association (PEPOA) for the subsidy payment.

Cabral said the NEA has issued more than 1.97 million credit memos to lifeline users worth more than P989 million.

“The lifeline users issued with credit memos consist of about 42 percent of the 4.7-million targeted lifeline users under electric cooperatives nationwide,” she said.

Last month, the DSWD signed an agreement with the PEPOA for the implementation of the power subsidy program.

The agreement with PEPOA would benefit some 530,000 lifeline users, of whom 185,000 come from Luzon; 168,379 from Visayas; and 173,983 from Mindanao.

“The lifeline users covered by the franchise of the PEPOA members will also be issued credit memos starting with the August 2008 billing statement from where their electric bills will be subtracted until the P500 has been fully utilized,” Cabral said.

The program would be implemented until all the 6.76-million beneficiaries have claimed their subsidies, she added.

The DSWD chief stressed that the payment of one-time subsidies as directed by President Arroyo “will provide immediate assistance to Filipinos who are vulnerable to the effects of rising food and oil prices even as the government provides long-term solutions to their socio-economic problems.”    – Helen Flores