YES, FOLKS, “Nong Moroy” a.k.a. MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) did it again with another milestone in history. It started with bringing the consumers of “I Am Iloilo City” perhaps the lowest electric rate in the country at P6.46/per kilowatt hour, giving the Ilonggos almost two years of windfall and savings.
Now, they’re at it again, this time by actually refunding the bill deposit of qualified customers, the first power distribution utility to do so in almost a century in Iloilo City and the country.
In what could only be described as a historic first, MORE Power has started refunding the bill deposits of qualified consumers – those who have paid their bills religiously for 36 months.
On June 2, three eligible households received refunds of their bill deposits from MORE Power president and chief executive officer Roel Castro at the power firm’s corporate office with Commissioner Alexis Lumbatan of the Energy Regulatory Commission as special guest.
Article 7 of the Magna Carta for Residential Consumers mandates bill deposit refunds to consumers that have paid their electric bills religiously for three years.
According to Atty. Eldrid Antiquiera of local civil society group Grupo Konsumedor, “the refund was historic, it’s the first time in the history of the city and province of Iloilo that we have a return of bill deposit, this never happened before.”
Take note that it was MORE Power who took the initiative to call these qualified customers that they have a refund. Previously, consumers have to petition the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) just to try to get a refund. Despite an order from the ERC to the defunct PECO to refund almost P600 million nothing happened; it completely ignored the order till their demise.
I’m rather curious as to whatever happened to the million if not billion pesos deposits of customers of the defunct PECO which accumulated for almost a century.
This unprecedented and historic customer-centric initiative by MORE Power should inspire other power distribution utilities to follow suit and fulfill their obligations as a good corporate citizen of the local governments unit under their watch.
As MORE Power president Roel Castro said, the “bill deposit refund initiative is not only in compliance of the Magna Carta for Residential Consumers; it is consistent with our customer-focused service. Even if the customer does not ask for it, we go out of our way to inform the customer that this is due him.”
This year alone, MORE Power expects its bill deposit refunds to reach over P5 million and have already earmarked funds for it.
In fact, according to MORE Power president Roel Castro, “this is really going to be ordinary for us. After all, this is hard-earned money of the customers. That’s one side of it. The other side is that we are following the law. The Magna Carta says we have to return the bill deposits.”
An unprecedented and historic beautiful gesture; where in the world can you find a power distribution utility like MORE Power that gives back money to its customers instead, when in this business distribution utilities are more known for taking their customers money rather than giving back.
Finally, saving the best for last – MORE Power just announced a significant reduction in the average residential rates for the billing months of May to June 2023.
The much lower rate is P12.2990 per kWh, which is lower by P0.9522 per kWh from P13.2511 per kWh of the previous month.
Likewise, generation cost of P7.1182 per kWh was reduced by P0.5362 per kWh for this month with the entry of Energy Development Corp geothermal power to the power supply mix plus lower exposure to high spot market prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, and decrease in coal prices.
Renewable energy also means lower VAT on generation cost, equivalent to P0.1613 per kWh reduction.
Transmission charges decreased from P0.9057 last month to P0.7226 this month, because of lower ancillary service charge and higher kWh billing determinant energy.
All that, including reduction in systems loss, totals into a significant reduction of electricity rates.
Well played indeed, “Nong Moroy”./PN
