I SUPPOSE it’s de rigueur to begin with this greeting: Happy New Year!
This is my first column five days into the year, and it’s a fitting moment to look back — at things that mattered, things of consequence that shaped “I Am Iloilo City” and the lives of its people.
This is not about politics — that’s another story altogether. This column is about progress: the significant factors that helped make Iloilo City one of, if not the, best places to live in the Philippines.
A fast-growing, highly urbanized city needs, above all, a steady and reliable supply of affordable electricity to fuel its growth.
And so, in retrospect, we turn our attention to “I Am Iloilo City’s” sole power distribution utility, MORE Electric and Power Corporation, better known as MORE Power — particularly its environmental focus under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs.
Speaking of reliable and affordable electricity, MORE Power delivered a welcome reduction in electricity rates for December, which consumers will see reflected in their January bills.
The average residential rate dropped to ₱11.3477 per kWh, a decrease of ₱0.5081 per kWh from the previous month.
Commercial rates also fell, now standing at ₱10.66 per kWh, down from ₱11.17.
As a result, MORE Power’s effective Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rate declined by ₱0.8515 per kWh, from ₱5.7805 last month to ₱4.9290 this month.
It is worth recalling that five years ago, MORE Power was able to provide “I Am Iloilo City” with what was then the cheapest electricity rate in the country, at just over ₱6 per kWh. Given the right circumstances, there is little doubt it can do so again.
Even now, the current rate remains the lowest among all power utilities in the region.
Which brings us to another area where MORE Power has raised the bar — what a power distribution utility should be, particularly in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility.
The company was named Grand Winner in the Circle of Excellence for Innodata as CSR Company of the Year at the prestigious 2025 Asia CEO Awards, held at the Manila Marriott Grand Ballroom. The event brought together the country’s top corporate leaders and organizations recognized for excellence and nation-building.
This recognition places MORE Power at the forefront of corporate social responsibility, underscoring its steadfast commitment to community development through environmental protection, livelihood support, and youth empowerment. Since taking over as Iloilo City’s official power distributor in 2020, the company has consistently shown that corporate growth and social good can — and should — go hand in hand.
Among its hallmark initiatives are large-scale tree-planting and river cleanup drives, livelihood assistance for vulnerable sectors, support for public education, and partnerships with government and civic organizations on disaster preparedness and sustainable energy. For MORE Power, CSR is not a side activity — it is a core value, a philosophy of powering progress with purpose.
It never ceases to amaze me that a power distribution utility takes Corporate Social Responsibility this seriously — especially its environmental initiatives. After all, the power industry is often viewed as profit-driven rather than green-minded.
But this is precisely where MORE Electric and Power Corporation, or MORE Power, stands apart. As “I Am Iloilo City’s” sole power distributor, it places CSR on equal footing with excellent customer service and the delivery of steady, reliable, and affordable electricity to Ilonggos.
Consider just a few of its ongoing — not one-off — environmental initiatives: planting more than 2,000 bamboo and coffee saplings at the Maasin Watershed Forest Reserve; planting 1,000 mangrove saplings along Sunset Boulevard in observance of World Mangrove Day; and releasing 2,500 fingerlings of pompano, seabass, and rabbitfish into the Iloilo River.
At times, one is tempted to wonder whether MORE Power is actually an environmental group disguised as a power distribution utility.
Indeed, well played./PN
