Poor power consumers to get subsidized under new law 

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has signed into law a measure extending the lifeline rates for poor power consumers for another 50 years. 

Under Republic Act 11521, lifeline rates or the subsidies for poor consumers will be shouldered by non-lifeline rate consumers. 

Marginalized power consumers are household beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer program and consumers who were certified as poor by their distribution utilities, according to the law. 

The law provides for a comprehensive evaluation of its implementation every two years to prevent leakages. 

Consumers with an average monthly consumption of 100 kilowatt-hours and below are given discounts under current lifeline rates. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza