The government needs more than P7 billion to keep electricity consumers from shouldering losses tied to power theft, faulty meters and weak collections at electric cooperatives under a nationwide crackdown on non-technical system losses.

Energy Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said the government plans to gradually remove non-technical losses from consumers’ electricity bills through a four-stage program led by the National Electrification Administration.

“The funding that we need to do this is about more than P7 billion,” Guevara told reporters on Monday.

Electric cooperatives currently post an average system loss of about 10.45 percent, of which more than 4 percent comes from non-technical losses, Guevara said.

Unlike technical losses, which are inherent in transmitting and distributing electricity, non-technical losses can come from pilferage, tampered meters, billing and collection problems, and other inefficiencies.

The government is targeting roughly one year to carry out the four-stage reduction of non-technical losses.

Targeting illegal connections

A major part of the program will target illegal connections, or “jumpers,” which allow electricity to be consumed without being properly metered.

“We have households that allow people to use jumpers. So we need to inform those consumers that if you allow that, it’s like you allowed theft to all consumers, not just to you,” Guevara said.

The plan also calls for consumer education campaigns, tighter billing, and collection, meter management and audits, database cleanup among electric cooperatives, and policy and regulatory reforms.

Guevara stressed that consumers cannot shoulder system losses exceeding the cap imposed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“In the system loss, even if they exceed the cap of the ERC, they cannot ask for that from our consumers,” she said.