Napocor to continue serving isolated areas after p

State-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) said it will continue to improve the operations of its strategic power utilities group (SPUG) even after the privatization of its assets.

Under Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the operations of SPUG would be left in the hands of the government, through the Napocor, as its operator.

The SPUG is the island and missionary electrification arm of Napocor. These small facilities of the state-owned power firm help elevate the people’s quality of life by providing cheap and dependable electric power service.

Based on Napocor data, SPUG serves 2,056 barangays in 197 municipalities all over the country. SPUG also serves 73 islands and seven isolated areas within the main grid. Specifically, it serves at least 40 electric cooperatives, three local government units, one private electric utility (MECO) and other generation and transmission offices of Napocor.

Napocor has 16 power barges (2 megawatt to 32MW); 85 land-based diesel-fired power plants (.2 MW to 9MW); and one hydro power plant under the SPUG.

Of the 21 provinces in the new Social Reform Agenda (SRA) of the administration, 11 are being served by SPUG including Batanes, Romblon, and Tawi-Tawi which are among the country’s less developed areas.

For the period 2001 to 2010, the energy sales from SPUG are expected to steadily grow by an average of 14 percent each year.

From 492,861 megawatt hours (MWH) this year to 588,741 MWH in 2002, the sales are expected to further increase to 673,904 MWH in 2003; 766,950 MWH in 2004; 877,496 MWH in 2005; 1.002 million MWH in 2006; 1.14 million MWH in 2007; 1.29 million MWH in 2008; 1.45 million MWH in 2009 and 1.65 million MWH in 2010.

Napocor’s SPUG had already completed nine electrification projects under SPUG since September in 1999.

Foremost among SPUG’s projects is the Solar Electrification Project. It brought electricity to 270 households in the Ata tribal community in Pacquibato district, Davao City.