More barangays energized

The Energy Development Corp. (EDC) of the state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has committed to bring electricity to 827 more barangays and sitios until 2006, a top company official said.

EDC chairman and president Sergio Apostol said these areas are in the provinces of Leyte, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Albay, Sorsogon and Cotabato, sites which host EDC’s geothermal projects.

Apostol said they are also committed to energize remote barangays in Samar and Iloilo.

According to Apostol, this move is in support of the Department of Energy (DOE)’s expanded rural electrification program (ERP).

ERP targets the electrification of all barangays by 2006 and 90 percent of sitios by 2017. As a strategy to fast-track the electrification program, the DOE has encouraged independent power producers (IPPs) to help bring power to communities hosting energy facilities.

EDC piloted the participation of IPPs in rural electrification through 2000 in 10 barangays in Ormoc, Leyte.

The state-owned geothermal development firm is also credited for lighting up 506 barangays in Leyte, Samar, Negros Oriental and Occidental, Albay, Sorsogon and Cotabato.

"We will continue to help the DOE achieve its rural electrification targets to ensure that more communities will reap the benefits of electricity," Apostol said.

Since the start of the private sector participation and with the accelerated pace of the rural electrification program beginning 2001, the rural electrification project has increased its output by two-to three-fold.

The electrification index in 1998 stood at 500 barangays, rising to 700 barangays in 2000; 1,500 barangays in 2001; and 1,600 in 2002.