The implementation of the lifeline rate for low income electricity consumers will be extended for another ten years under a bill recently approved on second reading by the House of Representatives.
House Bill 8145, a consolidation of four bills, was approved on second reading on the last day of regular session for 2020 on Wednesday.
The bill consolidated four legislative measures filed by Reps. Godofredo Guya (RECOBODA Partylist); Presley de Jesus (Philreca); Adriano Ebcas (Ako Padayon Pilipino) and Sergio Dagooc (APEC Partylist, among other authors.
Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, chairman of the House Committee on Energy, said HB 8145 seeks to amend Section 73 Republic Act NO. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).
Section 73 of the said law provides for social pricing mechanism called the lifelline rate for the benefit of marginalized end-users for ten years since the law was passed in 2001.
A ten-year extension was provided under Republic ACt No. 10150, it was gathered.
Arroyo said HB 8145 seeks to grant a second ten-year extension to allow the effectivity of the lifeline rate until 2031.
HB 8145 defines marginalized electricity end users as low-income captive market end-users who cannot afford to pay their electricity consumption at full cost due to poverty.
These end users usually consume an average of 100 kilowatt-hours or less of electricity.
The bill also mandates the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to determine the socialized pricing mechanism for marginalized end-users of electricity.
“Now, more than ever, as the country faces economic setbacks due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, low income consumers need continuous relief and assistance to enable them to access electricity and uplift their lives,” authors of the bill who belong to the so-called power bloc stated in the explanatory note of the bill.
The group had originally proposed a 20-year extension until 2041 but the House energy panel voted to push for a ten-year extension, instead.