NEA orders power coops to bring down fuel costs

MANILA, Philippines — The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has asked all electric cooperatives (EC) nationwide to further step up their efforts in observing cost reduction in fuel consumption given rising fuel prices.

In a memorandum dated Sept. 1, NEA  instructed all ECs to adopt a 15-day fuel consumption monitoring cycle for their service vehicles and other operational equipment or vehicle.

The monitoring scheme will be used as a tool for ECs to mitigate the impact of the incessant oil price increases and ensure sufficient budget allocation for their fuel consumption, NEA said.

NEA further directed ECs to submit their respective courses of action to further cut fuel costs, for documentation and benchmarking purposes of other ECS on prudent fuel consumption.

Last June, NEA issued an advisory to all the ECs nationwide to observe cost reduction in fuel consumption.

It said rising fuel costs could  put a major strain on the financial operations of the ECs.

This prompted NEA to advise the ECs to re-evaluate their practices on cutting operating expenses, particularly on the use of fuel.

Should the ECs’ actual disbursement on fuel exceed the budget allocation, the agency said there is a need for supplemental and/or budget realignment as stated in NEA memorandum  2021-46.

NEA administrator Emmanuel Juaneza earlier encouraged the board of directors, management and staff of the ECs to continue practicing  cost-cutting measures in their operations since prudent use of EC funds ensures their financial stability even during critical times.