NEA allots bulk of P1.8-B budget for Mindanao electrification plan

MANILA, Philippines — The National Electrification Administration (NEA) is allotting bulk of the P1.82 billion national budget for electrification projects in Mindanao this year to bolster development in the region.

NEA administrator Edgardo Masongsong said the budget allocation would provide electricity to 1,817 sitios across the country, of which are located in Mindanao, followed by Luzon (560 sitios), and Visayas 552 sitios.

“The government’s electrification policy is always cognizant of, and responsive to, the situation on the ground. Despite the best efforts of the government, in partnership with electric cooperatives, a large chunk of Mindanao remains unelectrified. This is precisely the reason Mindanao gets the lion’s share of the government’s funds aimed at extending electricity services to the unserved areas,” he said.

During a recent Senate hearing into the status of electrification in the country, the agency said there were 19,740 sitios that have no electricity. Majority of these unenergized sitios are found in Mindanao (8,535), Luzon (6,541), and Visayas (4,664).

Masongsong said about P25.35 billion would be needed to fully energize the remaining sitios within the term of President Duterte, adding that the average cost to energize a sitio is P1.4 million.

He cited isolated areas, difficult terrain, right-of-way issues, peace and order problems, natural calamities, and administrative constraints as key challenges in the implementation of the rural electrification program.

To address the gap in electricity access, NEA proposed some measures including the issuance of an executive order aimed at accelerating the energization of unserved, underserved and unviable areas and amendments to the existing department circular on qualified third party (QTP) policy.

The agency also proposed the continued subsidy for Sitio Electrification Program (SEP), Barangay Line Enhancement Program (BLEP) and Household Electrification Program, and streamlining and simplifying the administrative requirements and processes, such as permits and clearances.

Under SEP Phase 2, the NEA and electric cooperatives (ECs) have completed the energization of some 1,474 sitios while 409 more are nearing completion. About 563 sitios were given electricity in Mindanao, 439 sitios in Luzon and 472 sitios in Visayas.

Since its inception, the Rural Electrification Program through the NEA and partner ECs successfully energized 78 provinces, 90 cities, 1,385 municipalities, 36,051 barangays, and 121,324 sitios benefiting 12.19 million households or almost 60 million Filipinos as of December 2017.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian earlier directed the Department of Energy (DOE), NEA, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to come up with a unified strategy for household-level electrification.

Gatchalian who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy, filed Resolution 695 directing the appropriate Senate committee to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the status of electrification in the country “to assess and possibly revise the national electrification strategy, with the end view of achieving total electrification for the welfare of the Filipino people and the development of the nation.”