Meralco customers urged to apply for lifeline discount

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is ramping up its campaign to encourage more customers to apply for lifeline rate discount.

Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications Joe Zaldarriaga said the power distributor is proactively looking for ways to encourage more customers to apply for the lifeline rate program so that they can get discounts on their electricity bills.

The company has intensified the conduct of barangay caravans in different cities and provinces within its franchise area to encourage more beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and other qualified marginalized households to apply.

“While we have already engaged all local social welfare development offices or SWDOs in our franchise area, we will continue to reach out to more customers, and we hope that the on-site applications will lead to the increase in the number of program beneficiaries,” Zaldarriaga said.

Beyond information campaigns that started as early as April, Meralco has also been conducting on-site applications for qualified customers.

Meralco has lined up on-site applications and caravans in the cities of Caloocan, Las Piñas, Manila, Parañaque, Quezon and Valenzuela this month.

Meralco will also hold caravans outside Metro Manila, particularly in San Rafael and Meycauayan in Bulacan, San Pablo City in Laguna, General Mariano Alvarez and General Trias in Cavite, Taytay and Rodriguez in Rizal, and Mauban and Sariaya in Quezon.

“We are calling on all our qualified customers to take advantage of our caravans and apply for the program so that they can continue to benefit from the discount,” Zaldarriaga said.

“Rest assured that Meralco will immediately process the applications and continue our information and education campaigns to bring in more customers to the program,” he said.

Qualified customers under the lifeline rate program should have a monthly electricity consumption of 100 kilowatt hours (kWh) or below to avail themselves of the discount ranging from 20 to 100 percent in their Meralco electricity bills depending on their actual consumption.

Meralco said eligible customers can still apply by visiting the nearest Meralco Business Center together with their completed application form, latest electricity bill and 4Ps ID.

For non-4Ps beneficiaries, a local SWDO certification and government ID are needed.

Meralco said only customers with approved applications will continue to enjoy the discount starting this September, in accordance with the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 11552 or the law extending and enhancing the implementation of the lifeline rate.

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier renewed its call to household beneficiaries listed under the 4Ps to avail themselves of the electricity lifeline rate, noting the low registration to date.

The DOE said that only 1,816 consumers out of 24 million 4Ps beneficiaries nationwide have applied for the lifeline program as of July 10 this year.

The agency said only 31 distribution utilities have received lifeline program applications, while 110 distribution utilities have yet to receive a single application as of the same date.