The government needs to invest at least P72 billion to achieve its target of electrifying the 'entire nation' by 2028. The Department of Energy (DOE) said over two million households are still without electricity.
"We have a total electrification program under the National Electrification Administration, the electric cooperatives, and the National Power Corporation. What are they doing? They will make sure that by 2028, as the President instructed, the country will be 100 percent electrified," DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara, during the 16th Media Seminar organized by the United States Embassy in the Philippines,
She added that based on the study conducted by the DOE and the Philippine Statistics Authority, the estimated total economic impact of the total electrification would be P315 billion, or about 1.8% of the country's gross domestic product.
"Well, if you increase electricity from 0 hours to 8 hours, the income and expenditure of the household will go up by about 17 percent. If you go from eight to 16 hours, the income and expenditure will go by about 33%," she said.
Guevara said increasing access to electricity for as much as 16 to 24 hours would increase households' income by 49.4% and expenditure by 52.2%.
"Because of that, I can do business. And I can increase my income. And of course, I will spend more money. If we can do 100 percent total electrification of the country, the economic benefit is P315 billion pesos. That is 1.8% of our GDP," she said.
The latest data from the DOE showed that as of the end of March this year, the total household electrification level was at 93.12%.
Guevara said the DOE presented these numbers to the Department of Finance (DOF) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) last week.
"The meeting was good because the DOF and the NEDA accepted that investing in the total electrification is okay. Because they already saw the economic benefit. Nobody reported that part to them before," said Guevara.
"So, because of that, we're thinking of a possible loan from ADB (Asian Development Bank) or World Bank," she added.
Guevara clarified, however, that only a portion of the P72 billion will be secured through loans since the government has a budget allocation of P3 to P5 billion per year for the country's total electrification program.
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