Rural electrification program gets P1.3B

The Department of Energy (DoE) is confident it will be able to provide access to electricity to 1,420 more sitios, or small enclaves that form part of a barangay (village), before the end of this year with the recent disbursement of P1.3 billion for rural electrification projects in the last quarter of 2011.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras said this was so far the “highest disbursement for rural electrification” as the previous budget average was only P860 million. This year, the government did not allocate any budget for rural electrification projects. It was only because the government had realized some savings that it decided to

disburse a P1.3-billion budget for this purpose, Almendras said.

The rural electrification projects are on-grid (involving the construction posts and wires to connect to the grid).

“This means we are on track to reaching our goal of hitting a 90-percent household electrification by 2017. At present, the average household electrification level stand at between 72 percent and 75 percent,” he said.

Almendras is optimistic that with the way things are, the DoE will be able to use the entire P2.5-billion budget earmarked for rural electrification next year within the first six months.

“If there are savings, we can deploy more than what was budgeted by the Congress for electrification projects,” he said.

In an earlier interview, Almendras said the government was open to doubling to P5 billion the rural electrification project for next year, depending on the absorptive capacity of the electric cooperatives.