Senator Win Gatchalian is again asking power distributors to take notice of pleas for leniency on the disconnection of power supply of customers who still cannot afford to pay their unsettled electricity bills in full. 

Senator Win Gatchalian urged the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and distribution utilities (DUs), such as Meralco, to heed the call of the public to further extend the ‘no disconnection’ policy for low-income consumers at least until the end of the government-imposed General Community Quarantine (GCQ).

Senator Win Gatchalian said low-income households can look forward to a continued subsidy in their electricity consumption bills in the next 10 years.

Senator Win Gatchalian said a refund should be in order if it will be proven that a violation has been committed by the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) because of its high cost of electricity.

Senator Win Gatchalian has set in motion the Senate deliberations on a measure that will further develop the natural gas industry, providing for a replacement of the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project even before its supply runs out and avert possible rotational brownouts beginning 2022.

Glad tidings for the more than five million underprivileged Filipino families as Senator Win Gatchalian said the proposed measure seeking to extend for another 10 years the subsidy in their electric bills has inched closer to being enacted, just in time before it expires next year.

Senator Win Gatchalian formally asked the Senate to review the minimum performance standards compliance of toll operators stipulated in their concession agreements as well as the powers and functions of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), the government agency that regulates all toll roads in the country.

Senator Win Gatchalian is pushing for a measure that will remove barriers to the development of the microgrid system in the country and help realize the government’s key energy policy thrust of providing electricity access to all Filipino households by 2022.

Senator Win Gatchalian has amended the budget of the Department of Energy (DOE) and proposed an additional P46 million for next year to fund studies on new technologies that will maximize indigenous resources, lowering the cost of energy in the country.