Published January 11, 2017, 10:00 PM
by Hannah L.
Torregoza
The Senate committee on energy is
set to hold its first hearing into the proposed establishment of a P750-million
fund for electric cooperatives to help in the rehabilitation and restoration of
power services damaged during a disaster.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, head
of the energy panel, said deliberations on Senate Bill No. 1253, otherwise
known as the proposed Electric Cooperatives Disaster Management Fund Act, would
start on Thursday next week. The Senate resumes sessions starting Monday,
Jan. 16.
Gatchalian said the bill aims
to shore up the resiliency of the country’s electric cooperatives against the
constant barrage of natural disasters that often wreak havoc on electricity
infrastructure throughout the countryside.
The bill specifically seeks
the creation of a R750-million fund that would provide financial assistance to
electric cooperatives for restoration and rehabilitation of power facilities
and infrastructure damaged during typhoons, earthquakes, and other instances of
natural calamities and fortuitous events.
The senator said that without
a dedicated funding source for disaster repair and rehabilitation, electric
cooperatives have no choice but to seek interest-bearing calamity loans from
the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
He said these calamity loans
could take as long as two years to be converted into grants. Sometimes the
loans are not converted at all due to budgetary constraints.
“Under the current system,
electric co-ops often have no choice but to pass on the costs of these calamity
loans to consumers, resulting in higher power rates for people who are already
struggling to put their lives back together in the wake of a calamity,”
Gatchalian said.
“Essentially, it’s like
handing out relief goods to calamity survivors and then asking them to pay for
them later. This is a problem that needs to be addressed,” said Gatchalian.
Apart from disaster restoration and
rehabilitation efforts, the fund would also be utilized for disaster
prevention, preparedness, and mitigation projects that electric cooperatives
will undertake
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