NEA crafts new policy on rural electrification

MANILA, Philippines — The National Electrification Administration (NEA) is crafting a new policy to fasttrack rural electrification as President Duterte wants government to provide electricity to every household nationwide.

NEA administrator Edgardo Masongsong said the agency is preparing a policy that would speed up the implementation of rural electrification to maximize, among others, micro-grid and solar home systems, as well as access to sustainable energy program.

The policy will be presented to the 121 electric cooperatives (ECs) next month.

“ECs should fasttrack electrification and should open up through installation of micro-grids, allowing private distribution utilities should they be interested to energize an area, as well as maximizing solar home system and access to sustainable energy program,” Masongsong said.

Last week, NEA presented to the Senate committee on finance its P4.9-billion proposed budget next year, bulk of which would be allocated to fund capital expenditure requirements of the ECs’ and other power distribution projects.

The agency targets to energize 100 percent of rural households nationwide by 2022, which will be met through the development of mini-grids.

To power up all areas, this would mean an estimated yearly budget of P4.8 billion to P5.2 billion.

For this year, it has set the goal to achieve 90 percent household electrification.

When NEA presented its budget, Sen. Loren Legarda said private sector participation should be encouraged for the agency to achieve its goal of completing the rural electrification program of the government before President Duterte steps down in 2022.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on energy, also urged NEA to take advantage of latest technologies, such as the micro-grid systems, to reach far-flung areas that have no access to power grid and still remain unserved.

Gatchalian also said some private distribution utilities have already expressed interest in building micro-grid systems in areas or sitios left unserved or underserved by the ECs.

“Micro-grid systems are now available here in the Philippines and we can take advantage of this to fill in the gap under the sitio electrification program. But if there’s an opportunity for the private sector to come in, then, let’s embrace it,” he said.