Rural electrification rate seen at 94% by end-2026

STATE-RUN National Electrification Administration (NEA) said it is hoping to energize 94% of rural households by the end of 2026 with the availability of additional funding.

“With the increase in subsidy granted to us by Congress, we are expecting to achieve 94% electrification,” NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano C. Almeda told reporters last week.

The government is hoping for total electrification by 2028.

The NEA is a government-owned and -controlled corporation tasked with implementing the rural electrification program and with bringing electricity to missionary or economically unviable areas in the countryside via electric cooperatives (ECs).

According to EC estimates as of July 31, around 16.81 million households have access to power.

The NEA hopes to energize its 17 millionth connection this month.

The agency has been allotted around P5 billion for the implementation of the Sitio Electrification Program.

While the budget and targets are already in place, Mr. Almeda said the NEA will need additional manpower to “validate, inspect, liquidate, and issue certificates of final inspection” in order to fast-track energization.

He said the priority areas for electrification include the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“These are really areas in the country that need help. Of course, there are others we can extend somewhere in the north—such as the Cordilleras and Region 2—as well as areas in the Visayas, particularly in the Negros region,” he said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera