Philippine ERC to Extend Power Bill Relief Through December
Key Takeaways
- •The ERC will extend its no-disconnection policy from November to December, allowing households more time to settle overdue electricity bills.
- •The extended protection applies only to households consuming 200 kWh or less, a narrower scope than the previous policy that covered all customers, including large commercial and industrial accounts.
- •The narrowed measure follows requests from distribution utilities and electric cooperatives facing cash flow pressure, since they must still pay suppliers such as NGCP on time while customer payments lag.
- •This is the second disconnection suspension issued by the ERC, which first introduced the measure in May to ease consumer burden amid threats to energy supply availability and stability from the Middle East conflict.
- •The formal issuance detailing the recalibrated policy is expected to be released within the month.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will extend its suspension of electricity service disconnections for another two months, giving consumers additional time to settle unpaid power bills.
ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Francis Saturnino C. Juan said the agency will extend the initiative from November to December.
“We will release it within the month, as it was supposedly set to end in October. We have already discussed among the commission that we will extend it, but with a more limited scope,” he said on the sidelines of the ASEAN Energy Business Forum 2026 on Monday.
However, the extended no-disconnection policy will apply only to households consuming 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) or less. The cap marks a shift from the existing policy, which Mr. Juan said applies to all of a utility’s customers, including large commercial and industrial accounts.
The upcoming relief marks the second disconnection suspension issued by the ERC, following an earlier extension that ran from August to October. The regulator first introduced the measure in May to ease the burden on consumers amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the resulting imminent danger it posed to the availability and stability of the country’s energy supply.
The narrower coverage follows requests from distribution utilities, including electric cooperatives, for a recalibrated measure. “We have also received numerous requests from our utilities, including electric cooperatives, because of the no-disconnection policy that applies to all of their customers, including large commercial and industrial customers, many of their customers are not able to pay their bills on time,” Mr. Juan said.
“However, the utilities still need to pay their suppliers, including NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines), on time. As a result, their cash flow is being affected. Their operations are becoming financially tight,” he added.
For households within the 200 kWh threshold, the extension means continued protection from disconnection while they catch up on overdue bills. On the utility side, Mr. Juan’s remarks point to the financial strain behind the recalibration: providers must still remit payments to suppliers such as the NGCP on time even as customer payments lag. The precise terms of the narrowed policy will be set out in the formal issuance, which Mr. Juan said the commission would release within the month.
Source: BusinessWorld — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
