VECO powers up 65 rural households in Naga

CEBU, Philippines - Around 65 households in the City of  Naga benefited from the rural electrification project of the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) with its commitment to extend distribution lines to areas that have no power supply.

It was last October 26 when residents of Sitios Buntod and Lower Kaiktay II in Barangay Jaguimit finally earned their permanent source of electricity.

The country’s second largest distributor of  electricity officially launched its electrification project in Naga City last June 20 of this year after the approval of the Department of  Energy.

This project complies with Energy Regulation 1-94 that requires power generation companies to provide financial benefits to host communities by setting aside P0.01 per kilowatt-hour of  total electricity sales  to fund electrification, development and livelihood, reforestation, watershed management, and health and environmental projects.

The electrification projects are to be regularly initiated by the distribution utility or cooperative. The host communities entitled to avail of the program are barangays, municipalities, cities, provinces and regions through the Regional Development Council.

Veco, as the franchised distribution utility owned and managed by the publicly-listed Aboitiz Power Corporation and Vivant Corporation, initiated the implementation of the project.

It is starting with the electrification expansion for 22 sitios and 410 households in the City of Naga as directed by DOE. Funds for the project are generated from the contributions of AboitizPower generation companies such as East Asia Utilities Corp and Cebu Private Power Corp.

Veco customer retail services department manager Bailey del Castillo said that residents of  Sitio Buntod and Sitio Lower Katikay II need not suffer from having a temporary source of electricity and sharing from a number of households just to have power in their households.

During the on-site service connection from a secondary electric line, there were 33 households in the two sitios that were initially “energized” while the remaining households had their power connection last week.

Depending on the compliance of the submission of requirements, del Castillo cited that electrification will be fully effective within 24 hours for residential units while 15 days for commercial establishments.

Residents of the two sitios in Barangay Jaguimit were only required to submit the necessary documents and a deposit of P100 that is good for one-month consumption.

Del Castillo said that the electrification project was not just conducted in remote areas but also in other sitios and barangays in the entire province, including Cebu City.

Among the areas that the rural electrification project is implemented include barangays Patag and Lanas in Naga, Barangay South Poblacion in San Fernando and Barangay Panas in Consolacion.

He further noted that the electric company is aimed at energizing all households within the entire Veco franchise area.

Veco corporate communications manager Theresa Gonzales echoed the sentiments of del Castillo, saying that the electric company believes that electricity can help spur progress in rural areas.

“The government has been doing developments within the city. It is time to move towards the rural areas but how can development be pursued in those areas without electricity? This rural electrification project in Naga City serves as the impetus for this development,” she stated.

Gonzales added that seeing the residents pleased and grateful for the electrification of their households brings fulfilment for the electric utility and inspires Veco to fully achieve its goal of helping Cebuanos gain access of power. /JMD (FREEMAN)