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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Senate panel OKs bills seeking renewal of Meralco franchise

Senate panel OKs bills seeking renewal of Meralco franchise

Published Nov 25, 2024 10:09 am

A Senate panel on Monday, November 25, endorsed bills pushing for the renewal of Meralco’s franchise.

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Sen. Raffy T. Tulfo scrutinizes the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) franchise performance in providing electricity to 25 percent of the Philippine population living in 39 cities and 72 municipalities and as in-charge of delivering power to industries that generate 50 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. (Senate PRIB photo)

Senator Raffy Tulfo, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Services referred the bills seeking a fresh 25-year franchise for Meralco to the technical working group (TWG) following interpellations of Meralco officials.

Separate proposed legislative measures pushing for the renewal of Meralco’s franchise, which is set to expire in 2028, have been filed at the Senate by Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Joel Villanueva following approval of counterpart measures by the House of Representatives.

“We are given the opportunity to ensure that they improve their service wherever needed…The most pressing concern with any distribution utility is the availability of the electricity. As I always said during the past hearings, regarding distribution utilities the most expensive electricity is no electricity,” said Tulfo in his opening statement.

Among the issues discussed during Monday’s hearing were the issues on system loss, illegal service connections and spaghetti wires, which Meralco said it proactively addresses through its ongoing programs.

"According to the records presented to the committee, Meralco has shown, using ERC records, that its consumers enjoy one of the the least rates of power and incidents of interruptions across all comparably similar distribution utilities," Tulfo added.

For his part, Senator Mark Villar assured the public that the legislative body will ensure that Meralco will deliver quality electricity service once the distribution utility’s franchise is renewed.

"Atin pong sisiguraduhin kasabay ng pagbibigsay natin ng franchise extension sa Meralco, bibigyan rin niya tayo ng di matatawarang serbisyo (We will ensure that alongside granting the franchise extension to Meralco, they will also provide us with unparalleled service),” he said.

Meralco, which has an 8-million strong customer base, is responsible for providing electricity service to areas that produce more than half of the country’s gross domestic product.

Related Tags

Senate Committee on Public Services Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) Senator Raffy Tulfo
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