More than 2,000 households in Antique will soon have access to solar power after the Department of Energy (DOE) partnered with the local government and the Antique Electric Company (Anteco).
2,009 homes from 48 barangays across 14 of the 18 towns in the province will benefit from solar home technologies as connecting these far-flung areas to Anteco’s grid proved to be challenging.
“The distance of the houses in the barangays hinders the Anteco to put up their electric poles for it could be very costly that this solar project is the solution,” Vice Governor of the province Edgar Denosta was quoted in a Philippine News Agency report.
Each household will pay a one-time P 500 membership fee, as well as the P100 fee per month as their electricity bill.
Denosta said that during a talk with Antique Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao, the local government unit pledged to set aside P 4 million as subsidy for the solar project.
The provincial government will give P 450 worth of subsidies to cover the membership fee and a monthly subsidy of P 50 for the residents’ electric bill.
Each household will only pay P50 for the remaining membership fee and monthly electric bill of P 50.
“The households will only pay very little because of the provincial government subsidy,” he said.
One solar panel, two bulbs, and one radio transistor will be given to each household beneficiary.
Anteco will handle the maintenance and repair of the solar panel. Each barangay will have a trained serviceman in case there will be problems with the residents’ connections.
