DoE open to raising electrification budget

The Department of Energy (DoE) is looking to increase the budget for household electrification projects next year to as much as P5 billion, as the government wants to provide access to electricity to at least 90 percent of the country’s households by 2015.

“Next year, the allocation may be anywhere between P2.5 billion and P5 billion, depending on absorption capacity of the electric cooperatives. We will see how it goes and if the projects are being completed the way they should. If that’s the case, President Aquino doesn’t mind increasing the budget for rural electrification,” Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras said in an interview.

As it is, the 2011 budget for rural electrification was already the highest at P818 million.

The implementation of the projects for this year is on track, Almendras told the Inquirer.

Almendras said that the renewed push to provide access to electricity, especially in the remote areas, was one of the thrusts of the Aquino administration, which is why the government is “pushing money into the rural areas.”

The government believes that the provision of electric services will yield “more opportunities for improved quality of life, greater access to basic services and better infrastructure for rural development.”

“Rural electrification, therefore, is greatly directed towards socio-economic growth of the marginalized sectors, the fisherfolk and farmers living in remote barangays (villages) of the country,” the DoE said.

According to Almendras, the government also wants to make sure that the implementation of the rural electrification projects will be smooth. This is why it has employed a “multisectoral engagement to ensure that the projects happen.”

Almendras explained that before funds are given to the electric cooperatives, all concerned stakeholders will be consulted. These include provincial and local government officials, community members, the Church and nongovernment organizations.

The DoE is also employing a “better brother scheme” in which the ailing electric cooperatives will be aided by the better performing ones to ensure successful project management and implementation, he added.