Albay residents get P67-M power subsidy

By Mar S. Arguelles

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 24 (PNA) -- The National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the provincial government of Albay disclosed today that they will jointly grant a P67-million power subsidy to subscribers of the Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco).

Albay Governor Joey S. Salceda said P54 million came from NEA while the P13 million will come from the coffers of the province.

He said “the provincial counterpart subsidy came from savings arising from royalty taxes paid by the National Power Corporation (NPC) for the operation of the Tiwi geothermal plant in Tiwi, Albay.”

Salceda, quoting a letter from NEA, said the P54 million check will be released on January 29 including the guidelines on how the power subsidy would be implemented.

The power subsidy is intended to be given to some 180,000 Aleco subscribers effective February.

Engr. German Silva, NPC-Aleco task force manager, said his office, the NEA and the Aleco board will be meeting to draw-up the mechanics of the power subsidy.

The group will study how the subsidy would be given, in what form and who would qualify to the grant.

Silva said they will carry out the program as soon as the guidelines are prepared.

Salceda, in an interview, said the NEA power subsidy is part of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's power subsidy scheme under the “Katas ng VAT” program, while the provincial subsidy came from the royalty tax paid by NPC.

Residents of Albay expressed elation on the granting of power subsidy, saying that it would give them a temporary relief from the high cost of power they are paying.

In July last year, the NPC took over the operation and management of ALECO and vowed to initiate aggressive reforms to uplift the financially-distressed electric cooperative, following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the two entities.

The NPC would extend its technical and financial expertise to the ailing electric cooperative to enable it to recover from its huge indebtedness and high-systems losses.

Among the problems that are expected to be addressed by the rehab plan are Aleco’s outstanding P1.6-billion obligation to NPC and the National Transmission Corp., (Transco) and its runaway systems losses which have been placed at 23 percent.

He said the NPC would see to it that the systems losses would be brought down from the high level of 23 percent to the allowable level of 14 percent.

Albay Rep. Al Francis Bichara initiated a congressional inquiry on the operation and management of the financially bankrupt electric cooperative.

At the hearing, it was learned that the cash-strapped electric cooperative is saddled with financial and operational problems which include: high systems loss, low collection efficiency, low systems rate labor cases and outmoded transmission and distribution equipment.

Aleco’s energization covers 182,224 households or 77 percent of the total households of 235,400 in the 15 towns and three cities of the province. (PNA)