CONSUMER advocate and businessman Raul T. Concepcion proposed Friday to revise the application of the lifeline-rate subsidy in such a way that only qualified poor residential users can avail themselves of such subsidy.

“In studying the existing lifeline-rate subsidy offered to electric residential consumers, the lifeline rate is applied to all users who consume less than 100 kilowatt-hour [kWh] per month even if they are rich,” said Concepcion.

He added that overseas Filipino workers who own condominiums, such that when they are not in the Philippines, do not consume any themselves electricity and thus are qualified to avail themselves of the lifeline-rate subsidy even if they can easily afford to pay the proper rates.

Concepcion said this is contrary to the intention of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), which provides safeguards for the poor.

Concepcion further suggested that the subsidy for the poorest of the poor can be funded from the “excess profits” from the privatization of the National Power Corp. and the National Transmission Corp., and government shares in the Malampaya.

Lifeline-rate users account to around 1.55 million, or 36.5 percent of total number of Meralco’s customers, who enjoy monthly discounts ranging from 20 percent to 50 percent of their monthly bill.

Concepcion explained that under the current lifeline-rate subsidy, consumers using zero to 50 kWh are given 50-percent discount in their power bills, while those consuming 51 to 70 kWh and 71 to 100 kWh enjoy a 35-percent and 20-percent discount, respectively, in their electricity bills.

The subsidy given to lifeline customers are borne by all nonlifeline customers that typically ranges from P0.10/kWh to P0.12/kWh, as an add-on to the bills of the nonlifeline customers such as residential customers consuming beyond 100 kWh, commercial, industrial and streetlight customers.

Under the unbundled rates approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission, which was implemented starting June 2003, lifeline subsidies were extended to residential customers.

Concepcion added that the Epira mandates that the lifeline subsidy can last only up to 2011, afterward the subsidy will expire.

The lifeline-rate discount is applied to combined generation, transmission, system loss, distribution, and supply and metering charges, but exclusive of government tax and universal charges are not subject to the discount.

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THE auto industry is confident of continuing its strong growth in the next months despite the heightened political rumblings, especially with the stable economic fundamentals already helping its sales to increase by 14.3 percent in the first two months of the year.

SKYROCKETING world oil prices have again prompted oil companies to raise by another 50 centavos per liter the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene, which took effect over the weekend.

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said Friday that it approved the application of the First Gen Energy Solutions Inc. (FGES) as a retail electricity supplier, even as the ERC looks forward to providing consumers the choice of where to source their power requirements.

CONSUMER advocate and businessman Raul T. Concepcion proposed Friday to revise the application of the lifeline-rate subsidy in such a way that only qualified poor residential users can avail themselves of such subsidy.

DAVAO CITY—The country’s pioneer in distributing auto-liquefied petroleum gas (auto-LPG) in the Visayas and Mindanao has offered the Office of the Vice Mayor here its autogas air-conditioned taxis for driver-beneficiaries of a livelihood project.

THE Philippines is inching closer toward achieving the status of a “mining country” as mining investments continue to pour in, despite the strong opposition to the government’s mining-revitalization program by various sectors.