THE National Electrification Administration (NEA) will remit around P1.35 billion worth of unused subsidies and dividends to the national government to support efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, P1,346,765,113 will be remitted to the Bureau of the Treasury, as requested by the Department of Finance. Of the amount, P1.26 billion represents unutilized subsidy funds received in 2016 and earlier, while the remaining P85.71 million were from dividends to the national government for 2019 operations.
“The amount will help our national government facilitate the delivery of much needed assistance for many industries and livelihoods that were severely disrupted by the ongoing public health emergency,” said Edgardo Masongsong, NEA administrator.
Masongsong in a statement said NEA extended for 30 days the payment deadline for loan amortization of electric cooperatives (ECs) due on March 31, in consideration of the declaration of a state of calamity throughout the country for six months.
The NEA has likewise offered financial assistance to power co-ops through various loan windows to bankroll their various capital expenditure projects and the rehabilitation of damaged distribution systems due to calamities.
Earlier, the ECs were also allowed to secure short-term loans from sources other than NEA like banks, financing companies and other established financial intermediaries, as long as they are deemed reasonable and appropriate.
As a supervisory body to 121 ECs nationwide, NEA regularly monitors distribution system parameters such as systems loss and reliability, circuit kilometers and substation capacity to ensure that they remain operationally reliant and technically efficient in delivering service to their member-consumers. It is also mandated to implement the total electrification of the country.
