AT HIS fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced his support for a proposed amendment to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act that would prevent electricity system losses from being passed on to consumers.
Well and good. The announcement drew noticeable applause from the audience. But is the President aware that a power distribution utility already has a system in place to address system losses—and that it has worked remarkably well since day one?
Let’s talk about how “I Am Iloilo City’s” sole power distribution utility, MORE Electric and Power Corporation, also known as MORE Power, managed to convert unauthorized users into paying customers and cut system losses to 5%.
Under the previous power distribution utility, one of the most stringent requirements was proof of land ownership before an electric meter could be installed. This left thousands of informal settlers unable to obtain authorized service.
When MORE Power took over Iloilo City’s electricity distribution network in 2020, it inherited a system plagued by 28% losses, overloaded transformers, and widespread illegal “jumper” connections.
According to MORE Power president and CEO Roel Castro, “many of them just truly did not have legitimate ways to be able to have legal connections.”
Instead of simply cutting off power and pursuing legal action, Castro focused on converting unauthorized users into legitimate, paying customers.
To address the problem, MORE Power allowed residents to apply for electricity service without proving land ownership. Applicants only had to sign a waiver stating that obtaining an electric connection did not give them any legal claim over the property they occupied.
In other words, removing the land-ownership requirement for utility connections enabled MORE Power to dramatically reduce system losses and more than double its customer base in Iloilo City.
It was a benevolent way of running a profitable business—one that benefited all parties involved.
To jump-start the campaign, MORE Power deployed 250 security personnel—125 during the day and another 125 at night—to identify and map illegal connections across the city. Rather than simply removing unauthorized wiring, the teams encouraged residents to sign the waiver and immediately apply for a legal meter.
Once the campaign got underway, 95% of those approached chose to regularize their connections after the ownership requirement was removed. In its first year alone, MORE Power brought more than 10,000 previously unauthorized households into the formal electricity network.
This innovative approach to an age-old problem transformed MORE Power’s operations. The utility’s active metered connections grew from about 62,000 when it assumed operations in 2020 to almost 200,000 today.
Significantly, combined technical and non-technical system losses fell from 28% at the takeover to around 10% in the company’s first year, before declining to the Energy Regulatory Commission’s regulatory cap of 5% within four years.
Bringing previously unmetered households onto the formal grid also gave the utility a more accurate picture of electricity demand, allowing it to better plan capital investments while reducing transformer overloads and power interruptions. There was also a safety benefit: replacing makeshift wiring with standard electrical connections significantly lowered, if not eliminated, the risk of electrocution and fires in densely populated communities.
It may be recalled that some barangays recorded system losses of as much as 60%, contributing to an overall system loss of 30% when MORE Power took over operations.
From 30%, the system loss borne by MORE Power consumers has now dropped to 3.83%—well below the 5.5% cap set by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Much can be said about MORE Power’s success in turning a longstanding problem into an opportunity.
At the end of the day, the experience shows that electricity pilferage can be curbed by making it easier for consumers to obtain legitimate service instead of treating enforcement as the only solution.
As Castro said, “If you give people an easy way to go legitimate, they would always choose to go legal, we just have to remove the systemic barriers.”
Indeed, MORE Power turned a jumper crisis into a business success./PN
