BAGUIO CITY– Four provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Cagayan Valley will start to directly get their share from the electricity sales of SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP), with the latest computation amounting to PHP10.5 million, an official said on Tuesday.
Lawyer Mike Hosillos, SNAP vice president and chief corporate affairs officer, said the PHP10 million that will be shared by the provinces and the regions is equivalent to one centavo per kilowatt-hour (P0.01/kWh) electricity sales. The computation is based on Energy Regulation No. 1-94 from the total attributable energy sales of its Ambuklao, Binga, Magat, and Maris hydro facilities.
Hosillos said the distribution will be PHP4 million for Benguet Province; PHP2.3 million for Ifugao Province; PHP1.8 million for Isabela Province and PHP1.4 million for Nueva Vizcaya Province and PHP1 million for the region, indigenous cultural communities and indigenous people’s organizations.
Based on the energy regulation as posted in the Department of Energy (DOE) website, the amount can be utilized for projects which are beneficial to the community distributed as follows: 50 percent will be used in the electrification of the community; 25 percent for the Development and Livelihood Fund (DFL); and the other 25 percent for reforestation, watershed management, health and or environment enhancement.
“The amount which will be distributed next month is based on electricity sales from December 2017,” Hosillos said.
He said the distribution will start to be done on a quarterly basis following the recent signing of a memorandum of agreement with the local government units for the implementation of a 2018 circular of the DOE.
The signing signals the start of a streamlined process of releasing financial benefits from power generators to local governments, Hosillos said.
The LGU share from the electricity sales used to be remitted first to the national treasury, which takes years before being released.
Through the DOE Department Circular 2018-08-0021, power generation companies can now directly download the ER 1-94 funds to their host communities, streamlining the release of funding that will ease the process of implementing relevant projects that benefit the host communities.
“We thank the Department of Energy for being steadfast in their commitment to streamlining the implementation of ER 1-94. Through this improved process, host communities may now immediately reap their share from the company’s revenue from hosting generation facilities,” said Joseph Yu, SNAP president and chief executive officer in a press statement.
“We are excited to witness and to continuously partner for the conscious and consistent positive change that these additional funds will bring to our communities,” Yu added. **PNA
