THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will extend its “no disconnection” policy to the end of the year but will limit the relief to customers consuming 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) or less per month.
“With regards to the no-disconnection extension, we will release the announcement within October as this will be the month where it is supposed to end, but note this will have a limited scope,” ERC chairman and CEO Francis Juan said on Monday.
The regulator in July directed all distribution utilities nationwide to suspend electric service disconnections for residential and non-residential customers with unpaid bills from August to October.
The decision to reduce the scope for the rest of the year, Juan said, is aimed at limiting the financial impact on power firms.
“We have received plenty of requests from our utilities and electric cooperatives to apply it like this because some large companies have been taking advantage,” the ERC chief said.
“[T]hey (power firms) still have to pay their costs and this development has affected their cash flow,” Juan added.
“And for those residential customers who will benefit, we will be able to preserve the protection that we have extended to them as we understand that times have been hard and with power rates still continuing to rise.”
