Total electrification hounded by budget gap

ILOILO CITY — Government regulators are in discussions with lending institutions to secure additional funding to bridge the gap in the budget needed to meet the country’s target of universal electrification by 2028.

In an interview on the sidelines of the 16th Media Seminar hosted by the United States Embassy in the Philippines here on Monday, Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said the planned electrification project would require a substantial budget of P72 billion.

Guevara said the government, through the National Electrification Administration (NEA), can only cover P25 billion of the needed funding. It must secure approximately P47 billion more to complete the project.

“We may need to take a portion of the budget because we have a budget deficit and we cannot increase our budget to fund the total electrification until 2028. We are in discussions with the World Bank and ADB (Asian Development Bank),” Guevara said.

Citing a study by the Department of Energy (DoE) last year, Guevara said the estimated total economic benefit of total electrification could be P315 billion, or approximately 1.8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2023.

“From an investment of P72 billion to a benefit of P315 billion, that’s a win,” Guevara said.

As of the end of March, data from the DoE revealed that 93.12 percent, or approximately 26.02 million of the 27.72 million target households, had access to electricity.