MANILA, Philippines — The National Electrification Administration (NEA) is earmarking P1.6 billion to bring power to over a thousand sitios or far-flung communities next year.
The agency recently presented its proposed P3.9-billion budget for 2021 during the House Committee on Appropriations’ hearing.
It said out of the P3.9-billion corporate operating budget, P1.8 billion would be subsidized by the national government while the remaining P2.1 billion would be sourced from internally generated funds.
NEA said the proposed P1.6-billion budget for sitio electrification would come from the P1.8-billion state subsidy, while P200 million would be channeled to the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund (ECERF).
NEA administrator Edgardo Masongsong said the government subsidy would energize 1,085 sitios next year.
He emphasized that there are around 12,000 sitios or 1.7 million households across the country that still need to be energized.
As of June 30, 2020, NEA and the 121 electric cooperatives (ECs) have energized 123,726 sitios or 84 percent of the targeted 147,989 sitios.
Apart from the electrification of the sitios, NEA said the budget would also allow it to work on the connection of an additional 400,000 consumers; reduction of system loss to 12 percent; collection efficiency of 97.23 percent; release of P500 million loans to ECs; and continued realization of a net margin for the year.