DTI Undersecretary Rowel S. Barba of the Competitiveness and Ease of Doing Business (CEODB) recently lauded the efforts of MERALCO and the Local Government of Quezon City for their continued efforts to make it easier for citizens to get connected with electricity.

MERALCO Senior Vice President Alfredo Panlilio, in his report to the DTI Secretary, highlighted the digital transformation, network upgrades and technology advancements currently being undertaken by the country’s biggest electric utility. All these are expected to improve the Philippines’ ranking in the “getting electricity indicator” of the World Bank Doing Business Report, where the country ranked 31st behind Malaysia 8th, and Thailand 13th.

The Getting Electricity indicator of the World Bank Study “measures the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed building as well as the reliability of supply and transparency of tariff, or price of electricity.”

A team from the WB recently visited the country to validate the reforms for the 2019 WB Doing Business Survey. The DTI cited to the WB the reforms implemented by MERALCO and the QC Government which saw the reduction in procedures from 4 steps to 3 and the turn-around time from 37 days to 28.
During the WB validation visit, MERALCO, for its part, cited the following reforms that made it easier to obtain an electricity connection and improved the reliability of supply and transparency of tariffs.

• Implementation of an online service application process
• a Meralco booth set up at the QC Hall for immediate assistance in electric service application
• the Quezon City LGU’s electronic transmittal of Building Permit and CFEI (Certificate of Final Electrical Inspection) to Meralco
• implementation of a single application of permits as part of Business Application in Quezon City Hall.
• Implementation of Meralco’s various network automation and systems innovations using smart grid

“We are pleased to see the fruits of the reforms, and Meralco’s commitment towards continuous improvement. The eServices facility, along with the One Stop Shop of Quezon City is expected to improve the ease of doing business.” DTI CEODB Undersecretary Rowel Barba said. “By 2022 we aim to be at the top 20% of competitiveness rankings. We see automation of government services as a key to be a globally competitive country for business. The automation efforts by the Quezon City Government and Meralco may serve as an example to other local government units to level up their delivery of frontline services to businesses,” added Barba.

More on Ease of Doing Business in Getting Electricity♦

Date of release: 30 April 2018