THE National Electrification Administration (NEA) said electric cooperatives (ECs) are authorized to realign the budget they have set aside for some of their institutional activities this year to fund the initial rollout of their respective Pantawid Liwanag programs.
Edgardo Masongsong, NEA administrator, said power coops may consider this option as well as other fundraising activities without risking the budgets allocated for their capital expenditures and operating expenses.
He added the agency has instructed all ECs to cancel their planned 2020 institutional activities in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, with the national government and public health experts strictly prohibiting all kinds of mass gatherings.
Masongsong also reiterated that guidelines to the ECs were issued last week, noting that the budget for their cancelled institutional events may be tapped to fund their corporate social responsibility programs in response to the crisis.
“The budget already appropriated for the said activities may be realigned into working capital requirements necessary to sustain and ensure the continuity of EC operations and to finance their programs such as Pantawid Liwanag,” he said.
Likewise, ECs were instructed to submit copies of such detailed plans to help NEA address and assess the impact of the COVID-19 situation on the rural electrification sector and their stakeholders.
The Pantawid Liwanag program, initiated by the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association in cooperation with the National Association of General Managers of Electric Cooperatives, aims to subsidize the electricity needs of lifeline consumers or those families in low-income, marginalized households, who have levels of electricity consumption below a certain threshold.
Only ECs are mandated by NEA to follow the scheme and does not involve private distribution utilities.
