By Francis Allan L. Angelo
MORE Electric and Power Corp’s (MORE Power) reward campaign against jumper-resellers, or persons who steal electricity via illegal connections to be sold to households, will go hard on its personnel and contractor and even local officials who perpetrate such racket that burden legitimate consumers.
As of Nov 26, 2020, or almost a week after the launch of “Jumper Mo, Noche Buena Ko” last Nov 21, MORE Power has received more than 200 tipsters via textline 09175867377 and MORE JUMPERS Facebook page.
Of the 200 tips, more than 20 have been verified while one suspect was apprehended. The tipster who gave the positive information already received the P3,000 reward from MORE Power.
Jumper Mo, Noche Buena Ko aims to encourage tipsters to provide information on jumper-resellers who connect to not less than five households. A P3,000 reward will be given to the informant who provided the verified and positive tip.
MORE Power spokesman Jonathan Cabrera said bigger rewards await tipsters who can lead them to MORE Power employees and contractors and local officials who also act as jumper-resellers.
“We cannot tolerate such corruption within the company and local officials are supposed to impose the law, that’s why we are offering bigger rewards to our informants,” Cabrera said.
MORE Power assured the tipsters that their identities will be kept confidential to prevent retaliation. Also, they will not be required to stand as witness in the cases that will be filed.
Jumpers will be charged for violation of Republic Act No. 7832 (Anti-Pilferage of Electricity and Theft of Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Act of 1994).
Earlier, MORE power president and COO Roel Castro said jumper connections are present in up to 90 percent of the city’s barangays.
Castro explained that persons behind jumper connections profit from households that lack legal connections.
He said the masterminds charge the household P15 to P20 per kilowatt hour (kWh), which is more than 50 percent of their effective rate of P9.61 per kWh.
The illegal connections also burden legitimate consumers via the Systems Loss charge which appears on their billing statements.
Consumers of private distribution utilities like MORE Power shoulder 6.5 percent of the systems loss while the rest is subsidized by MORE Power.
The systems loss charges is spread among the legitimate consumers of MORE Power.
He said that MORE Power wants to use its funds in rehabilitating old facilities or building new ones for the benefit of the legal consumers, rather than subsidize part of the systems loss charges, hence their aggressive “drive” to crack down on illegal connections.
“Why should MORE Power and consumers be absorbing systems losses due to pilferage? Why not use the money for facilities and investments. Let’s say in one month, MORE Power would have to absorb P5 million in pilferage. That P5 million, instead of subsidizing illegal connections, I’d rather put it to new transformers, new wires, and new posts. These are new facilities that should benefit the consuming public,” Castro said.
He said that the promo “Jumper Mo, Noche Buena Ko!” was only one of their drives in weeding out perpetrators.
The incentive program runs until Dec. 24, 2020.
Information can be relayed by texting or calling 0917-5867377 (0917-JUMPERS) or sending a messaging to the MORE JUMPERS account on Facebook Messenger.
