MANILA, Philippines – A total P1.403 billion was lent to 43 electric cooperatives (ECs) by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) as of end-August 2016 to finance their capital expenditure projects and immediate rehabilitation of power distribution systems.
In a statement, NEA officer-in-charge Sonia San Diego said the agency has developed a credit guarantee program and facility for the ECs.
“This is to establish a power supply guarantee to secure the power purchase of qualified ECs in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), Interim Mindanao Electricity Market (IMEM) or under a bilateral contract with the generation companies (gencos) or the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP),” she said.
“NEA also continues to find ways to make funds readily available for the ECs particularly in times of natural and man-made calamities for them to serve better their member-consumers,” San Diego said.
Of the total, NEA said P399 million was borrowed by nine ECs primarily due to Typhoons Lando and Nona. Calamity loan has a term of 10 years of repayment period and one year grace period with interest rate of 3.25 percent per annum.
Meanwhile, P344.5 million was borrowed by five ECs to cover their monthly shortfalls on the settlement of their power accounts with the gencos and the NGCP, as well as to pay their debts with the National Power Corp. and/or NGCP in order to avail of the prompt payment discount.
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Camarines Sur I Electric Cooperative Inc. (Casureco) and Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative Inc. (Zamcelco) availed of the stand-by credit loan facility for power accounts totaling P298.156 million to strengthen their creditworthiness with gencos.
Three ECs in Mindanao, namely Misamis Oriental II Electric Service Cooperative Inc. (Moresco II), Agusan del Norte Electric Cooperative Inc. (Aneco) and Surigao del Norte Electric Cooperative Inc. (Surneco), secured loans amounting to P207 million for the procurement of modular generator set in anticipation of the shortfall of power supply in the island especially during the summer months.
Among all ECs, Moresco II was the top availer of NEA’s loan windows with P131.6 million for the acquisition of five units of two-MW modular gensets.
This year, NEA has introduced new credit facilities namely the Emergency, Unplanned and Contingency CAPEX Projects, and Disaster Resiliency Program for ECs and the Renewable Energy Projects of ECs.
Loan availment by the ECs is included in the fast-track lane being implemented by NEA. The average number of days to release a loan is eight working days for regular loans and five days for calamity loans for 2016.
To-date, the state-run agency has already extended P34.721 billion loans to 119 electric cooperatives nationwide to finance their rural electrification projects.
