THE Department of Energy (DOE) assured over the weekend that the extended electricity lifeline rate subsidy would be implemented fairly, following the signing of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 11552.
The rules of “An Act Extending and Enhancing the implementation of the Lifeline Rate, Amending for the Purpose Section 73 of RA 9136 (Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2021)” now included safeguards in the provision of subsidies. The IRR will assure that the discount would be given only to eligible beneficiaries while making sure that there is very little impact to the subsidizing sectors, which are the non-lifeline electricity consumers.
“The approved extension of implementation until the next 30 years will aid the marginalized sector in their economic sustenance and hopefully, recovery in the hope that by the end of the 30 year extension there will be less marginalized consumers and very minimal need for subsidy,” said DOE Assistant Secretary Mario C. Marasigan, who spoke on behalf of DOE Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla.
With the signed IRR, those in the marginalized sector who consume electricity will continue to receive government subsidies in their electricity bills for another 30 years after the first 20 years in the original RA is up.
Marasigan said the IRR explicitly outlined the steps for obtaining the lifeline subsidy, beginning with the submission of an application, so that the government could ensure that subsidies being provided by the non-lifeline customers were appropriately targeted.
“We also leverage on the best available information from the Philippine Statistics Authrority and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for more accurate targeting of lifeline beneficiaries and determination of threshold so that we can concentrate the subsidies to consumers in our poorest areas,” Marasigan added.
The DSWD, he said, will ensure that those receiving the lifeline subsidy are included in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries master list, while the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will continue to be in charge of determining the threshold level and the lifeline rate per distribution utility. The distribution utilities, on the other hand, will help validate and confirm the eligibility of such beneficiaries by submitting reports to the ERC.
“Such will lead to an achievement of a more equitable distribution of the lifeline subsidy, thus creating a more transparent and fair implementation of the lifeline subsidy among qualified marginalized electricity end-users and provision of assistance to electricity consumers living below the poverty threshold,” he said.
Marasigan also agreed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Renewable Energy Agenda and the extended lifeline rate subsidy both support the DOE’s call for affordable electricity prices.
“We are aware that these technologies continue to grow and as such, costs of building capacities will continue to decline and we see that in the near future, costs of electricity generation will be lower while the number of lifeline customers will also continue to go downwards resulting to lower subsidy requirement from non-lifeline customers,” he said.