Power cooperatives donate P12M to customers as lockdown subsidy

May 11, 2020 | 12:03 am
https://www.bworldonline.com/power-cooperatives-donate-p12m-to-customers-as-lockdown-subsidy/

AN association of electric cooperatives pledged to donate P12.1 million to power utilities operating in the countryside for their electricity subsidies program in aid of poor customers affected by lockdown measures to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

In a statement over the weekend, One EC Network Foundation, the foundation arm of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Philreca), said its board of trustees passed in April a resolution donating P100,000 to each electric cooperative across the country.

Lately, all 121 rural cooperatives committed to cover the cost of electricity of their poor customers with at least 20 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of consumption, or the so-called lifeline consumers.

They said, however, that they may have different parameters in implementing the subsidies program.

The Pantawid Liwanag is a corporate social responsibility initiative led by Philreca to support over 3 million poor customers affected by the government’s quarantine measures.

To fund this program, the cooperatives have realigned their budgets from canceled activities, such as annual general membership assemblies and district election of directors.

An total of P365 million has already been allocated to implement the program, the group said, which is higher than its estimated P250 million budget.
The electric cooperatives said earlier that they plan to waive their qualified customers’ electricity bills falling from March 26 to April 25. — Adam J. Ang