P1.6B set aside for rural electrification efforts

By Jordeene B. Lagare – September 10, 2020
from The Manila Times

A budget of P1.6 billion was allotted to energize over a thousand sitios (rural enclaves) across the country, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) said on Wednesday. In a statement, the agency said the amount formed part of its P3.9-billion budget for fiscal year 2021 as recommended by the Department of Budget and Management. During the House Committee on Appropriations’ deliberation on the proposed budget of the Department of Energy and its attached agencies for 2021, NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong said it was based on the 2021 National Expenditure Program. Of the P3.9-billion corporate operating budget, P1.8 billion would be subsidized by the national government and the remaining P2.1 billion would be sourced from the internally generated funds of the agency. Masongsong said the P1.6-billion subsidy would only electrify 1,085 sitios next year, adding that there were some 12,000 sitios or 1.7 million households without electricity.