NEA extends P5.628-B worth of loans to ECs

By Myrna M. Velasco – August 13, 2021, 6:08 PM
from Manila Bulletin

Government-run National Electrification Administration (NEA) has extended P5.628 billion worth of loans to electric cooperatives (ECs) at the duration of the Duterte administration.

According to NEA Administrator Edgardo R. Masongsong, the loans extended to the ECs had been via the agency’s Lending and Guarantee Program and these were granted between 2017 until June this year.

Funneling of loans to the ECs had been among the accomplishments touted by the electrification agency at its recent 52nd anniversary – and that’s on top of the level of energization already logged by the power utilities in their respective service areas.

NEA similarly stated that it sustained its profitability in the last five years with capacity to pay up to P3.175-billion worth of advances to the national government, primarily relating to foreign loan obligations.

For that specific account, the electrification agency emphasized that it would still have remaining balance of P428 million that it is scheduling to settle within the year.

In the last four years, NEA also paid P329.5 million worth of corporate taxes and remitted P411.712 million in dividends to the national government.

In terms of electrification, NEA highlighted that the ECs have already energized 78 provinces; 90 cities; 1,387 municipalities; 36,080 barangays; 125,123 sitios and 14.25 million customers.

“From 2017 to May 2021, a total of 2.465 million additional consumers were connected within the coverage areas of the 21 ECs,” the agency stressed.

NEA indicated earlier though that electrification of all sitios in the country may hit some snags in the last year of the Duterte administration; if budget allocation for such undertaking will not be increased via the State’s General Appropriations Act.

The role of the ECs is critical to spurring economic growth in the countryside; as this is a commodity that will serve as backbone to industrial as well as business activities in these domains.

As asserted by Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, “the creation of NEA revolutionized countryside economic development,” with him emphasizing in the past, “only our urban areas were advantageously positioned for progress.”

He added that “through the NEA, the national government gained access to remote rural areas, and we were able to tip the scales in their favor by providing them access to electric power services, which boosted their local economies – especially agricultural and industrial sectors.”