President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed the bill extending the lifeline rate of marginalized consumers for an additional 50 years.
Under the Republic Act 11521, signed on May 27, amended the purpose section 73 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 by extending the implementation of the lifeline rate to 50 years. The marginalized power consumers will be given a discount in their power bills.
The law says that the level of consumption, subsidy, and rate “shall be determined by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) after due notice and hearing,” provided that the ERC must “primarily utilize data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in the determination of the level of consumption.”
Among those who are included under the RA 11521 are the qualified household-beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and marginalized end-users certified and validated by the distribution utilities.
(PTV News)/NGS-rir
