NEA close to electrification target

THE NATIONAL Electrification Administration (NEA) and electric cooperatives nationwide have succeeded in energizing most of their target sitios and are redoubling efforts to meet their target by 2017.

To date, Total served/connected consumers is at 89.7 percent, NEA administrator Edita Bueno said in a text message.

The figure translates to about 89.7 million people, she added.

The target is to provide electricity to 32,441 communities under the Sitio Electrification Program (SEP), which started in 2011.

In a report, the NEA said that in January 2015 alone, about 1,030 sitios were electrified under SEP. For the calendar year 2014, NEA said, 7,567 sitios were energized, which is 6.98 percent more than the target of 7,073 sitios.

Since 2011, the NEA has received from the government a total of P16.881 billion for the SEP.

The program was a stepped up version of the Barangay Electrification Program, which ended in 2010.

“The electrification of the sitios was accomplished in spite of the massive rehabilitation efforts put in by NEA and the ECs for power restoration in the months following the massive devastation of Supertyphoon Yolanda in November 2013,” Bueno said.

Task Force Kapatid Yolanda, which commenced on Nov. 12, 2013, gathered volunteers from 70 electric cooperatives nationwide and 11 domestic and international organizations.

The TFK had brought relief to 33 affected ECs covering 341 municipalities, 7,052 barangays and 1,428,636 households, the NEA said.

To fast-track the SEP, NEA has included housewiring and installation costs for households, accredited regional technical evaluators, created a sitio implementation unit in the ECs, encouraged the participation of civil society organizations, issued unbundled price index of 5 MVA and 10 MVA substations, and complied with Commission on Audit rules and regulations.

Along this line, the agency will launch its Build-Back-Better Program this year with the issuance of policy and implementing guidelines designed to facilitate project implementation, the NEA said.

At the same time, the ECs have partnered with private organizations; enhanced basic regional services such as procurement, training of additional linemen and electricians and Task Force Kapatid; signed agreements with local government units to ease compliance requirements; conducted parallel pre-membership activities; membership application and assistance to potential consumers; realigned new projects, and turned over to the NEA excess electrification funds.