The House of Representatives, voting 186-7 with four abstentions, approved on third and final reading House Bill No. 10926, renewing for another 25 years the franchise granted to the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), under Republic Act 9209.
RA 9209 granted Meralco a franchise to construct, operate and maintain a distribution system for the conveyance of electric power to the end users in the cities and municipalities of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal, and certain cities/municipalities/barangays in Batangas, Laguna, Quezon and Pampanga.
House Bill No. 10926 renews the franchise granted to the Manila Electric Company for another 25 years.
The bill seeks to mandate Meralco to operate and maintain in superior manner all distribution facilities, lines and systems for electric services, and to modify, improve and change such facilities or systems in such manner and to such extent as the progress in science or technology and improvements or innovations in the electric power services may render reasonable and proper as may be required by the Energy Regulatory Commission or the Department of Energy.
Under the bill, Meralco shall submit an annual report of its operations and finances to the Congress of the Philippines through the Committee on Legislative Franchises of the House of Representatives and the Committee of Public Services of the Senate on its compliance of the terms and conditions of the franchise on its operations on or before April 30 of every year after the effectivity of the Act.
The reportorial compliance certificate issued by the Congress shall be required before any application for permit or certificate is accepted by the ERC.
Among the authors of the bill are Representatives Joey Sarte Salceda, Gus Tambunting, Rufus Rodriguez, Lord Allan Velasco, Kristine Singson-Meehan, Mercedes Alvarez, Marcelino Libanan and Johnny Ty-Pimentel.
“Meralco is an exemplar of how service reliability can create economic growth and development,” Salceda said.
“This is the fruit of some P220 billion Meralco invested in reducing systems losses and system interruptions.”
“This is the fruit of some P220 billion Meralco invested in reducing system losses and system interruptions,” he added.
Likewise, the House, voting 196-1, with one abstention, approved on third and final reading HB 10698, granting the Camarines Sur IV Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CASURECO IV) a franchise to construct, install, establish, operate, own, manage and maintain distribution system for the conveyance of electric power to the end users in the municipalities of Ocampo, Tigaon, Sagñay, Goa, San Jose, Lagonoy, Presentacion, Garchitorena and Caramoan, all in Camarines Sur.
