Iloilo consumers directed to pay electric bills to Razon firm

By Myrna M. Velasco – Updated May 8, 2020, 8:23 AM
from Manila Bulletin

Power consumers in Iloilo City had been directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to pay their electricity bills with Razon-led firm MORE Electric and Power Corporation.

That mandate is to untangle the confusion of con¬sumers who are still baffled as to which power utility firm they shall be securing service from and paying their bills with – given the protracted scuffle between MORE Electric and Panay Electric Company (PECO) on electricity service provision in the city.

“All electricity consumers in Iloilo City should pay their electricity bills to MORE Power starting March 2020 billing period,” the ERC said.

The regulatory body qualified that such “payment directive” is based on March 5, 2020 decision granting a provisional authority to the Razon firm to become the power utility service provider in Iloilo City, ripping out that privilege from PECO which the ERC had also granted earlier with provisional cer-tificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) that then served as its temporarily license to operate.

At the same time, the ERC decreed that “all concerns of the electricity consumers in Iloilo City such as applications for new connections and system maintenance must be addressed to and acted upon by MORE Power.”

The industry regulator further emphasized that “all other issues pertaining to supply and billings prior to the operation of MORE Power shall be resolved by the ERC.”

The regulatory body said it anchored its decision on the fact that MORE Power is the one that has been granted a Congressional franchise under Republic Act 11212 to take over power utility service operations in Iloilo City.

“MORE Power is the only entity with the required franchise and CPCN to operate as the sole electric distribution utility in Iloilo City,” the power industry regulator has stipulated.

The confusion of the consumers had been arising from the fact that while MORE Power holds the franchise to distribute electricity in Iloilo, it’s still PECO which duly own the assets where electricity load and supply has been flowing from and subsequently distributed to business establishments and households in that metropolis.

The interminable legal battle between the parties includes expropriation proceedings that are still pending for resolution in the courts.