MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian is pushing for the review of government’s electrification program to faster narrow the electricity access gap in rural areas before the 2022 target.
Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy, has filed Senate Resolution 695 to assess existing strategies in closing the gap in the number of households across the country still without power.
The lawmaker said the assessment would be helpful in “achieving total electrification for the welfare of the Filipino people and the development of the nation.”
“We want to check on the status of electrification of the country to assess and possibly revise the national electrification strategy,” Gatchalian said.
Currently, the government is using three methods to pursue the total electrification agenda.
The first is through grid extension by electric cooperatives, which is carried out by the National Electrification Administration (NEA). The second is by missionary electrification in off-grid areas, which is being implemented by the National Power Corp. (Napocor). The last method is through the entry of qualified third parties in remote and unviable areas.
These methods are being subsidized either through government appropriations or pass-on charges to consumers through the universal charge for missionary electrification (UC-ME).
From 2016 to 2018, Gatchalian said the government allocated P5.45 billion for sitio electrification and P3.97 billion for the supply of electricity in missionary areas.
Meanwhile, P73 billion has been remitted from the universal charge for missionary electrification collection as of December 2017.
But as of December 2017, a total of 2,399,108 of unserved households were not connected to the power grid, equivalent to 16 percent of households in the entire country, Gatchalian said.
Majority of this number is found in Mindanao at 1,345,116 households), while Luzon and the Visayas share the remaining half at 529,952 and 524,040 households, respectively.
“It is necessary to review the national electrification project of the government by identifying which communities are economically viable for grid extension, how much government appropriations are necessary to complete the extension, and in how long the construction can be accomplished,” Gathalian said.
“It is likewise important to know which communities are best for off-grid electrification, what technologies are suitable for them, and how fast the entry of qualifies third parties in the remote and unviable areas can be facilitated.”
Last month, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi ordered electric cooperatives (ECs) to submit the master plan identifying the unserved and underserved sitios within their respective franchise areas.
The master plan—which should to provide a roadmap to meet a specific goal: access to electricity for all by 2022—should be prepared and submitted in two months, he said.
The ECs, under the supervision of NEA, have reaffirmed their commitment to work together to bridge the electricity access gap, especially in remote and far-flung communities with poor living conditions.