The National Electrification Administration (NE A) said work on some rural electrification projects funded by government subsidies has already been affected by the pandemic, according to its administrator Edgardo Masongsong.
Masongsong said NEA’s Sitio Electrification Program is experiencing delays because of restrictions imposed to contain the spread of new coronavirus disease 2019. Masongsong said of the 841 sitios for electrification this year, 457 sitios are undergoing construction. Around 187 sitios for energization are pushed back due to difficulties in the delivery of construction materials and restrictions on the movement of people.
He added completion of the off-grid solar project for 5,000 households has also been disrupted due to delayed delivery of solar panels. The national government has allocated a P153 million subsidy for the implementation of the solar photovoltaic mainstreaming project under NEA’s Expanded Household Electrification Program.
Latest data from the NEA Information Technology and Communication Services Department showed there are still 1,834,777 unserved consumers within the coverage areas of 121 electric cooperatives (ECs) in the country. As of February 2020, the overall level of energization within the coverage areas of ECs nationwide is at 96 percent or 13,705,136 connections out of the 14,335,784 potential consumers based on the 2015 census.