Electric cooperatives from Eastern Visayas have allotted P18.84 million to subsidize the discounted payments of the region’s 246,652 poor power consumers, who are affected by the strict quarantine implementations due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

President of the Association of General Managers of Electric Cooperatives (AGMEC) in Eastern Visayas Allan Laniba said that the region’s power distributors are finding ways to implement the “Pantawid Liwanag” program for poor consumers.

Qualified consumers for this program are those who consume not exceeding 1 kilowatt per hour (kWh) to 20 kWh.

“Instead of giving food packs and personal protective equipment, we thought of providing relief to the people that other groups could not give, and that is through subsidized electricity bill,” Laniba was quoted in a report.

He added that electric cooperatives have realigned their budget for some institutional activities for the program.

Laniba also clarified that the funds would not be drawn from their operational expenses so as not to affect their financial obligations to their suppliers and transmission providers.