Electrification of upland brgys City summons power agency

CEBU, Philippines - In its aim to have all the residents of the city have access to electricity, the City Council has summoned another power agency in the hope of accessing the over P500 million collected yearly by Visayan Electric Cooperative (VECO) for universal missionary electrification of the city’s barangays.

The council summoned the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG), the functional unit of the National Power Corporation (NPC) for missionary electrification to appear before the next council session after council members received the Guidelines and Procedures Governing Remittances and Disbursements of the Universal Charge from the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) which pointed to SPUG as the unit assigned to identify projects for funding for the year.

With still several areas in mountain barangays that still do not have access to electricity, Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem, chairman of the committee on transportation, communications and utilities, has earlier sought for clear cut guidelines that would allow the city to make use of the missionary electrification fund.

After a visit by representatives of Energy Regulatory Commission, VECO, PSALM and the National Grid Code of the Philippines, the City Council learned that the only agency assigned to deal with projects for missionary electrification funding is SPUG.

Atty. Francis Juan of the ERC told the city councilors in March that the fund covers the “cost of operating in an area where income is lesser compared with the cost of generation.” He said the city can for the Qualified Third Party Program where unlighted areas in the city can be identified as project beneficiary.

VECO has already collected P487 million as universal missionary electrification charge since 2003 at P5.8 million per month. The fund goes to the PSALM, the firm that manages the assets and liabilities of power companies and according to the guidelines, will be disbursed by SPUG.

An official of PSALM revealed that they are not aware of any project being funded by the universal missionary electrification fund in Cebu except in the islands of Camotes, Bantayan, Pilar and Kinatarkan.

A portion of the fund is being allocated as watershed fund for Visayas and Mindanao, which made Councilor Nestor Archival, chairman of the Council’s committee on environment and natural resources, to question why Cebu City’s own watershed has not been getting its own share. — Ferliza C. Contratista/WAB (THE FREEMAN)