THE government is set to roll out in September its lifeline electricity rate program for poor households, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said yesterday.
The lifeline rate is a subsidized rate given to qualified low-income electricity customers who are unable to pay their electricity bills at full cost.
The PCO said among the households which can apply for the Lifeline Rate program are the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), or customers considered to be living below the poverty threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The program roll-out has been set to September 2023 to give qualified customers time to register.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) reported that as of end July 2023, there are only 12,829 household beneficiaries of 4Ps, out of the 4.2 million household members, which have applied for the Lifeline Rate program.
The validity of the Lifeline Rate certification for 4Ps members is valid for a year and based on the annual certified list of 4Ps beneficiaries provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
A qualified customer is eligible to receive the Lifeline Rate if he/she remains in the updated list.
For those who are delisted from 4Ps but are still classified as living below the poverty line, they must apply for a local Social Welfare and Development Office (SWDO) certification and submit it to the Distribution Utility (DU) or electric cooperative (EC) or the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to avail of the lifeline rate.
The DSWD certification should be submitted with an accomplished Lifeline Rate Application Form, their most recent electricity bill, and any valid government-issued identification card (ID) containing the signature and address of the customer.
The validity of the lifeline certification for non-4Ps is three years.
The PCO said power reduction rate varies depending on the prevailing rates of the DUs or ECs.
For Meralco customers, PCO said the lifeline beneficiaries with a zero to 20 kilowatt-hours (kWh) monthly consumption will be given a 100-percent discount on the generation charges, including system loss, transmission, and distribution components of their bill. They will, however, have a fixed metering charge of P5 and only pay around P20 in monthly electricity charges.
“If they do not avail themselves of the Lifeline Rate through Meralco, they will have to shell out more or less P250,” PCO said.
It added that for Meralco lifeline customers who consume 21-50 kWh per month, they will only pay around P300 in their electric bills instead of a full amount of P550.
Lifeline beneficiaries with a 51-70 kWh consumption will pay around P522.90, instead of P763.37, while lifeline beneficiaries with a 71-100 kWh usage will only pay P904.21 instead P1,099.10.
The lifeline rate subsidy was first implemented during the administration of the former President Gloria Arroyo in compliance with Republic Act (RA) 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
The lifeline subsidy was extended through RA 10150 that was signed by the late President Benigno Aquino III in June 2011.
