UA&P study: MORE Power spurred Iloilo City’s economic growth

By Alena Mae S. Flores – October 19, 2023, 9:05 pm
from manilastandard.net

Iloilo City—A study by the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) showed the substantial impact of MORE Electric and Power Corp.’s strategic investments and operational improvements on the local economy from 2020 to 2022.

UA&P president and economist Dr. Winston Padojinog said in a presentation to the Iloilo Business Summit on Wednesday hosted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)-Iloilo Chapter that MORE Power’s initiatives, including equipment upgrades, system rehabilitation and proactive governance significantly improved the quality of power distribution services, are driving economic growth in Iloilo.

Padojinog said MORE Power’s continuous efforts substantially reduced the frequency and duration of power interruptions, enhancing the reliability of power supply for businesses and households alike.

The company’s proactive governance measures also curtailed system losses, aligning them closely with the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) system loss charges cap.

These enhancements were instrumental in attracting more subscribers to MORE Power’s services, leading to a substantial increase in captured customer connections and operational revenues.

He said MORE Power’s customer base contributed an average of P4.99 billion annually to Iloilo City’s Gross City Domestic Product (GCDP), accounting for about 3.8 percent of the city’s total economy.

“We could see that, on average, what is ejected in the economy of Iloilo is close to P5 billion or almost 4 percent of the economy of the city of Iloilo. That’s quite significant. There you could see that this increase will translate to the benefit of the city of Iloilo,” Padojinog said.

He said that since MORE Power operated as the distribution utility of Iloilo City, it created 6,693 employment directly and indirectly, reducing the average number of unemployed individuals in the city by 10.6 percent per year.

This generated a total of P1.75 billion worth of additional income for Iloilo City’s households from 2020 to 2022.

He said the reduction in system losses also directly benefited consumers, providing them with extra income. As a result, consumers injected P1.01 million into the economy through additional consumption spending in 2022.

Padojinog said the increased employment and lower system loss played a crucial role in helping Iloilo City reduce its GDP decline by 2.4 percent during the height of the pandemic in 2021.

He said that when Iloilo City returned to its positive growth trajectory in 2022, MORE Power accounted for about 19 percent of that growth.

“You could see that a reliable utility infrastructure, a reliable infrastructure provider will have reverberating effects on the economy,” he said.