ILOILO – Affordable electricity for the bustling municipality of Pavia is being sought. The town’s Sangguniang Bayan (SB) unanimously passed a resolution seeking such a possibility during its regular session yesterday.
The move came after SB member Daniel S. Fajardo II, in a privilege speech, pointed out that a decrease in the cost of electricity has a direct impact to the lives of Pavia’s residents and stakeholders such as the various businesses that have made the municipality their base of operation.
Fajardo cited as example neighboring Iloilo City which is currently enjoying a dramatic drop in electricity rate.
“Last July 2021, the rate of electricity in Iloilo City was reduced from P10 per kilowatt hour to P6.45 per kilowatt hour… a big relief in this time of pandemic,” said Fajardo.
MORE Power Electric Corp. is the sole electricity distributor in Iloilo City. On the other hand, Pavia is being served by Iloilo Electric Cooperative 1 (ILECO 1).
MORE Power now boasts of having the lowest electricity rate in the country. Pavia under ILECO 1, on the other hand, has a current rate of P10.90 per kilowatt hour.
“San-o pa ayhan ang Pavianhon maka-enjoy sang barato or manobo nga presyo sang kuryente?” asked Fajardo.
He recommended that Pavia – which is roughly just 9.6 kilometers from Iloilo City – start looking into the possibility of being made part of the franchise area of MORE Power.
“We are adjacent to Iloilo City. It is our duty to provide our stakeholders with cheaper power to help them grow their businesses and will hopefully translate to more investors, jobs and tax revenues for the municipality of Pavia,” said Fajardo.
Pavia, the regional agro-industrial center for Western Visayas, is made up of 18 barangays. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 70,388 people.
After more than a year of operation in Iloilo City since MORE Power took over in early 2020, they were true to their commitment to supply affordable or cheaper electricity to their city consumers, Fajardo pointed out.
“I therefore propose, with a heightened sense of urgency, that this august body pass a Resolution requesting our honorable congressman Mike Gorriceta to explore this matter and possibly make the appropriate representations to Congress or to MORE Power if this is at all possible,” said Fajardo.
Franchises of power distribution utilities are granted by Congress.
SB member Jose Maria Trimañez, chairman of the Committee on Transportation, Franchises, Communications and Information Technology, backed Fajardo’s call.
He introduced a resolution requesting Gorriceta to “make representation in Congress” to “explore possibilities to open the franchise to operate another power distribution utility just like MORE Power that can give a lower kilowatt rate and efficient customer service to Pavianhons.”
SB members unanimously voted to pass a resolution for such./PN
