The Marcos administration is set to launch the Lifeline rate, a program that aims to help low-income households in paying their electricity bills, next month.
In a press statement on Sunday, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said households who are qualified to apply for the Lifeline Rate program are Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries and those who are considered to be living below the poverty threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“Only one Distribution Utility (DU)/Electric Cooperative (EC) service per qualified household can be granted a lifeline rate,” PCO said.
It noted that another application from the same household would be disapproved.
According to PCO, the reduction in power rate “varies depending on the prevailing rates of the DUs or ECs”.
“In the Meralco franchise area, lifeline end-users with zero to 20 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of monthly consumption will be granted a 100-percent discount on the generation charges, including system loss, transmission, and distribution components of their bill, except for the fixed metering charge of PhP5, which means more or less only PhP20 from their electric bills will be paid,” it explained.
Meanwhile, households, who are consuming 21 to 100 kWh will only pay the following bills:
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21-50 kWh - more or less P300, lower than the regular of P550
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51-70 kWh - around P522.90, lower than the regular of P763
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71-100 kWh - about P904.21, lower than the regular of P1,099
To apply to the program, PCO said households must present the duly accomplished Lifeline Rate Application Form, their most recent electricity bill, and any valid government-issued identification card (ID) containing their signature and address.
Those who are below PSA’s poverty threshold are required to present a certificate issued by the local Social Welfare and Development Office (SWDO) within the last six months.
“The program roll-out has been moved to September 2023 to give qualified customers more time to register,” the Communication office said.
