Quezon city: Families enrolled in the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will now benefit from discounted electricity. This development follows President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s announcement during his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) that these families are now included in the lifeline program for electricity consumers nationwide.

According to Philippines News Agency, the inclusion of Listahanan beneficiaries in the Lifeline Rate program is part of efforts to make electricity more affordable. The program, originally aimed at members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), is now expanded to include families with limited earnings who use not more than the lifeline rate of electricity. This initiative is mandated under Republic Act (RA) No. 11552, which amended Section 73 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

Households eligible for this subsidy are those with a monthly electricity usage below 100 kilowatt hours (kWh). Under Department of Energy (DOE) regulations, qualified households must register with their distribution utilities to avail of the discount. Data from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), as cited by the DOE, indicates that only about 1,816 consumers out of the 24 million 4Ps beneficiaries nationwide have availed of the program.

Despite 31 distribution utilities having received Lifeline program applications, 110 have not, highlighting a gap in program uptake. A check with the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) reveals that approximately 20,000 customers have subscribed to the program to date.