More power to senior citizens

BUSINESS MIRRORTUESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2011 20:31 MARVIN A. TORT / SWAY

About two weeks ago, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) issued rules on electricity-service discounts for senior citizens. The rules, which provide for a 5-percent discount on the power bill of senior citizen residences as legislated under Republic Act (RA) 9994, are supposed to take effect 15 days after publication.

Under RA 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizen’s Act of 2010, persons 60 years old and above will enjoy a discount on their monthly electricity bill. A discount of 50 percent also extends to nursing homes for senior citizens that are operated by a government institution or nonstock, nonprofit domestic organizations.

Under the ERC rules, the discount applies to the basic generation, transmission, distribution, supply, metering and system-loss charges. And to qualify for the discount, a senior citizen’s electricity consumption must not exceed 100 kilowatt-hours per month and the electricity meter and bill must be in his/her name and has been in existence for at least one year.

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest electricity distributor serving Metro Manila and nearby areas, said it was ready to comply with the new rules. In a statement, Meralco said it “worked closely with the ERC, DSWD, and other electricity distributors these past few months to ensure that the benefits of RA 9994 will reach deserving electricity consumers.”

But talk about insincerity and inequity in granting the discount, and to a large extent, perhaps Congress is to blame. As pointed out by Pete L. Ilagan, president of the nongovernmental organization National Association for Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc. (Nasecore), the ERC rules may not be in accordance with the spirit of the law. And one cannot help but be inclined to agree with him. Ilagan noted, “Not all senior citizens consume less than 100 kilowatts per hour [kWh] and there are too many hassles the senior citizen has to go through to get his discounts,” he said.

Consider the fact that in the Philippines, many senior citizens live with their children. So, in many cases, the electric meter or the electric bill is not in their name. This being the case, under the ERC rules, these senior citizens—while entitled to discounts under RA 9994—will not be able to claim their due.

Moreover, the 100-kWh cap appears unrealistic and is prejudicial to those who consume and use more electricity. A senior citizen with a medical condition that requires the use of medical equipment at home is automatically prejudiced by this cap, and so are those who require power-consuming cooling or heating units to address health concerns.

The power industry—generation, transmission and distribution—members can go beyond the 100-kWh limit set by law, with the ERC’s approval, if at all they intend to fully adhere to the spirit of RA 9994. But can one actually expect the Manny Pangilinan-controlled Meralco and other industry members to go out of their way to help consumers?

In fact, it doesn’t seem like there is anything to preclude the industry from offering to raise the cap to maybe 200-300 kWh, which is a more realistic and practical limit. They can also offer to accept barangay certification as proof of residency, and grant the discount, even if the electric meter or bill is not in the name of a senior citizen.

In the case of water, RA 9994 set the limit at 30 cubic meters. Frankly, this is a generous limit—and a realistic one—that can cover even a two- or a three-person household. If Congress can do this with water, why can’t they do the same with electricity? One can only wonder what the power -industry power position was during hearings on this.

One cannot help but feel that the power industry could have done more to push a more realistic cap, but this obviously will not be in their best business interest. However, with reports that high electricity rate will continue for some time, the least that the industry could have done was to be a bit more generous, even if only to senior citizens.

And Meralco, being the biggest electricity distributor in the country, could have swayed the industry relative to the 100-kWh limit. After all, senior citizens are most likely to cover only a very small base of electricity consumers nationwide, and a 5-percent discount on their consumption of, say, 300 kWh, is practically negligible.

Last October Meralco reported a consolidated net income of P8 billion for January-September 2010, up 61 percent from P5 billion in the same period in 2009. This even prompted the company to raise its profit target for last year to P11.5 billion from an earlier goal of P11 billion. As Meralco Chairman Pangilinan himself noted, “The growth in income would be driven by the increase in revenues.”

He continued, “Our excellent results are solid testament to our company’s ability to overcome rough and unpredictable times, emerging much stronger and prepared to face a future that poses more challenges… “Likewise, we march on with much resolve to maximize our growth potential and our strengths which will create more value for our residential, commercial and industrial customers and, shareholders.”

One cannot help but wonder how “maximizing” Meralco’s growth potential can also create “more value” for its customers if it entailed denying senior citizens a more realistic consumption limit for discounted power. While Congress may be to blame for the situation, should the power industry be quickly absolved for its seeming omission?

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