Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- June 17, 2018 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department
of Energy (DOE) is revising the guidelines on perks for communities hosting
energy projects to accelerate socioeconomic development in the countryside.
The DOE’s Electric Power Industry
Management Bureau is seeking comments from industry stakeholders on improving
the rules governing the direct remittance of financial benefits for communities
hosting energy projects.
Specifically, the agency is looking
to revise the existing policy on the administration of funds under Energy Regulation
1-94 (ER1-94).
Under ER1-94, the generation
facilities or energy resource development projects required to provide one
centavo per kilowatt-hour (kwh) of their electricity sales remitted directly to
the host communities.
The distribution utilities will be
the recipient of the electrification fund and channeled to local government
units, indigenous peoples or indigenous cultural communities.
The corresponding share of the host
communities shall be in accordance with the sharing under existing laws will be
the recipient of the development and livelihood fund and the reforestation,
watershed management, health and environment enhancement fund.
The DOE said consultations
specifically discuss the proposed amendments to Rule 29 (A) of the EPIRA-IRR
and other issuances related to the administration of the financial benefits
under the ER1-94 program.
“The move is meant to accelerate
socioeconomic development, ensure more effective and efficient utilization of
funds, and enforce the immediate provision of benefits to the host communities
through the annual work plans to be submitted by the host communities to the
generating companies and power resource developers,” it said.
The DOE said it will continue to
encourage wider stakeholder involvement, accepting public’s comments and
suggestions on the proposed circular on or before June 22.
No comments:
Post a Comment