Hearings on discount for senior citizens' electric bills to start

Public consultations on the 5 percent discount on electric bills of senior citizens will start next month, the Energy Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. The consultations will tackle the proposed Rules for the Calculation of Senior Citizen Discounts and Subsidies on Electricity Consumption Under Section 4 and 5 of Republic Act No. 9994. “The rules are aimed at providing transparency in the grant of senior citizen discounts and in the calculation of the subsidy rates, and at protecting the interest of the public which will be affected by the rates and services of the distribution utilities," ERC executive director Francis Saturnino C. Juan said. R.A. 9994 gives qualified senior citizens a 5 percent discount on electricity consumption provided that the installed electric meter is under the name of the senior citizen and that the monthly electricity consumption should not exceed 100 kWh. For Luzon, the public consultations is scheduled Sept. 22; for the Visayas, Sept. 29; and for Mindanao, Oct. 6. —VS, GMANews.TV