By Lcid Crescent D. Fernandez
Let’s go back 2 years to 2020 when MORE Electric and Power Corporation had just been granted the franchise to operate as the electricity distribution utility for Iloilo City. We were a very angry city then, and arguably rightfully so.
It wasn’t a good time to be a MORE Power consumer then. Social media imploded into several FB groups of “LESS Power”, “Iloilo Brownout Capital”, “Brownout Ta Iloilo”. Everything came to a boiling point when there was a 13-hour scheduled brownout for the Mandurriao substation for periodic maintenance. Power was supposed to be restored at 6pm, but our power was instead restored the next day at 12-noon.
Everyone was frustrated and angry. Now I was part of the Mandurriao Feeder 4 network, which would easily tell you that I was on the most intense side of the spectrum of this collective frustration. We had many sweaty and sleepless nights during those times.
And then things got better.
Power interruptions became less and less frequent.
Even when they came, they often lasted for just seconds.
If they lasted for more than that, you would see a response team by the sidewalk within minutes already working on restoration.
And if the problem wasn’t within your sight line, you had this expectation that they were working on making things better.
That’s because through the highs and lows of being a public utility, MORE Power was always transparent. When things were going to be bad, they told us the what, the when, and the why. They had real-time updates on and estimates on when power would be restored. Even beyond that, they showed us how the work was being done by consistently live streaming the work to improve the system. They even performed beyond that. They rolled out a comprehensive educational campaign that included everything from recoridas to barangay visits and digital explainers on how the distribution system works.
This level of transparency had never been seen before from a public utility in Iloilo City. The bar had already been set low by other public utilities. Timely advisories alone would have already been an upgrade. However, that’s not how MORE Power operates. Mr. Roel Castro, MORE’s President and Chief Operating Officer once told me, “I don’t want to promise outright results because there are many things you can’t control as a public utility. What we can promise is our consumer-centric mindset. We promise the same compassion, attention to detail, and effort to serve the best interests of the consumer.”
This was profound.
Rather than promise the reward, MORE Power promises the effort. They promise that in all their activities, they will approach it with the mindset that puts the consumer first. Perhaps that’s why they established the Partners in Power Foundation for their CSR. Maybe that’s how they were able to give us one of the most affordable rates in the country for a year. Quite possibly, that’s why, even with a 24-hour response team, MORE decided to roll out a QUICK response team to respond even faster to power interruptions.
It’s DEFINITELY why they are as transparent as they are now, and why, despite all the sweaty and sleepless nights in 2020, I have grown to trust MORE Power in 2022. And with the culture of trust that they have built as a public utility over the past two years, I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment.
