Malacañang okays P4.5-B Mindanao gensets

Manila Bulletin 
By Myrna M. Velasco 
Published: July 22, 2013 
Despite waning appetite of the electric cooperatives on such “quick fix” option, the Office of the President has approved the release of P4.5-billion budget from the Malampaya Fund to bankroll the procurement of modular generator sets (gensets) to be deployed in power supply-scant Mindanao grid.
Executive Order No. 137 issued by Malacañang explicitly provides that “the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is hereby directed to release the amount of P4.5 billion for the program, which shall be sourced from the Malampaya Fund of the Department of Energy.”
The deployment of gensets as a “band-aid measure” was laid down by government purposively to address “the needed additional power supply to electricity end-users in Mindanao.”
This will, however, come with a cost impact of P1.00 to P4.00 per kilowatt-hour depending on the volume of supply off-take that the ECs will eventually have from the gensets.
The Palace Order said “under the program, a loan facility may be extended to participating electric cooperatives (ECs) for the acquisition of modular gensets.”
The modular gensets which will be offered to the ECs via a lease arrangement was thought out as a “supply gap measure” at the thick of power interruptions in this year’s summer months.
On the funding, Malacañang noted that the release “shall be subject to the submission of the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) Certification on the availability of deposited collections with the SAGF-151 (Special Account in the General Fund) of the DOE and to existing laws and the usual government budgetary, accounting and auditing  rules and regulations.”
The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has been designated as the implementing agency for the lease of gensets to interested electric cooperatives in Mindanao. The auction for the gensets will be done with the assistance of the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (AMRECO) and other Mindanao stakeholders.
Relative to the gensets’ deployment, the Palace will then require “the NEA, through the DOE, (to) submit a monthly report on the status of the implementation of the program, including the actual use and disbursement of the funds for this program.”
The DOE has also been directed to “promulgate the rules and regulations for the implementation of the (Palace) Order.”   source