Senator proposes additional P418-M power subsidy for low-income households

A SENATOR has asked the administration to provide an additional P418-million electricity supply subsidy for low-income households amid the continued high cost of goods.

“We are glad that many of our countrymen are being helped by the electricity lifeline rate law that we have promoted,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said in Filipino in a statement on Sunday, “but we can help them even more if we increase the money they can save for their other bills while the inflation rate in the country continues to be high.”

The senator was referring to Republic Act 11552, or an Act Extending and Enhancing the Implementation of the Lifeline Rate, which provided relief for 4.18 million households that are under the government’s conditional cash transfer program known as 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program).

With the proposed additional subsidy, “lifeline consumers can save an average of P296.67 per month,” he said. “This can buy a family 7.5 kilos of rice.”

Funds for financial assistance will be sourced from the General Appropriations Fund.

Headline inflation eased for the first time in six months as it slowed to 8.6% in February from 8.7% in January. It marked the 11th consecutive month inflation exceeded the central bank’s 2-4% target. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan