A COUNCILOR in the 20th City Council of Davao City urged AboitizPower subsidiary Davao Light and Power Company (Davao Light) to submit a monthly report of their power rate to monitor its price.
“Dalawa lang po ang aking request (I have two requests), number one is for Davao Light to submit a monthly update regarding the rates [to] the city council through the Committee on Energy...We don’t want [the public] na magkaroon ng doubt ba in (to have doubts in) setting up prices increase and prices,” Councilor Bernie Al-ag, Chairperson of the Committee for Trade, Commerce, and Industry, and Labor and Employment opportunities, said during the 14th regular session of the 20th City Council on October 11, 2022.
During the 14th regular session, Davao Light was questioned about the P4 per kilowatt hour (kwh) increase in power rates.
Rodger S. Velasco, Davao Light President, said they have been posting the price increase information through their website.
“By rules, we are required by ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) [to post] on our website, that's one, but beyond that, we broadcast it on our Facebook page, Kaalam sa Kuryente every week, we also have guested on Disaster Radio that talks about the impact of rates. So we regularly communicate this to our customers,” Velasco said.
Velasco also added that they also reached out to the media for information dissemination.
However, Al-ag said these measures are not enough since the majority of the consumers are shocked about the increase and suggested improving information dissemination.
“My suggestion [is that] we can improve how we inform our consumers,” Al-ag said.
Meanwhile, Al-ag also asked the ERC to invite the City Council and consumer groups during their public hearing for the price increase.
“Every time they do a public hearing regarding the rates of our electricity, they should invite the representative from the City Council, the executive department, the City Mayor's office and also invite consumer groups...We need to improve the representation,” Al-ag said.
Al-ag emphasized the importance of information dissemination to avoid public clamor as to why there’s a need for an effective information campaign.
“We want na mas marami ang ma-consult (We need to consult the public) because this type of situation every day will affect the lives of Dabawenyos, di ta gusto makuratan ang taga-Davao nga naay mga changes, okay lang kung monaog ang presyo, but kung mosaka (we don’t want Dabawenyosto be surprised with the changes, especially if the rate will increase) we need to make sure that process followed properly and everybody must be informed,” Al-ag said. KSD