How MORE Power Cut Iloilo System Losses to 5%

From jumper crisis to success: How Razon’s MORE Power turned unauthorized users into paying customers and cut system losses to 5%

From Jumper Crisis to Grid Success: How Removing Systemic Barriers Solved Iloilo City’s Power Losses

When MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power), led by billionaire Enrique K. Razon Jr., took over Iloilo City’s electricity distribution network in 2020, it inherited a system crippled by severe operational challenges. The utility was losing 28% of its power to combined technical and non-technical system losses, largely caused by widespread illegal “jumper” connections and overloaded transformers across densely populated communities.

Instead of launching aggressive disconnections or pursuing legal action against unauthorized users, MORE Power President and CEO Roel Castro took a completely different approach: converting jumper users into legitimate, paying customers.

Eliminating the Proof of Ownership Barrier

Historically, electric utilities in the Philippines required applicants to present proof of land ownership before installing an electric meter. For thousands of informal settlers living without land titles, obtaining legal electricity was virtually impossible, leaving them with no choice but to rely on makeshift, hazardous wiring.

To eliminate this barrier, MORE Power introduced a simple land-waiver policy. Applicants signed an agreement stating that getting an electric connection did not grant them any legal claim over the property they occupied. Armed with this new policy, MORE Power deployed 250 security personnel across day and night shifts to map out unauthorized connections and actively encourage residents to apply for legal meters.

The response was overwhelming. Between 90% and 95% of the households approached chose to regularize their power connections once the land title requirement was dropped. In its first year alone, MORE Power integrated over 10,000 previously unauthorized households into the formal grid.

Dramatic Operational and Safety Improvements

The waiver-based regularization program transformed the utility’s operational and financial health:

Customer Growth: Active metered connections surged from 62,000 at takeover in 2020 to approximately 107,000 today.
Loss Reduction: Total system losses plummeted from 28% down to 10% in year one, eventually hitting the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) strict regulatory cap of 5% within four years.
Grid Reliability & Safety: Bringing informal settlements onto the formal grid gave operators accurate demand data, preventing transformer overloads and power interruptions while significantly lowering electrocution and fire hazards in crowded neighborhoods.

Following its success in Iloilo, MORE Power expanded the waiver-based model to affiliated utilities in Bacolod, Negros, and Bohol. As Castro noted during an appearance on Bilyonaryo’s Power Podcast, making legal compliance accessible is far more effective than pure enforcement: “If you give people an easy way to go legitimate, they would always choose to go legal. We just have to remove the systemic barriers.”