The Commission on Audit (COA) found that the Department of Energy (DOE) was only able to collect some of the Php 217 million out of the Php 1.2 billion owed by energy exploration and development companies in 2022.
In a report by Rappler, COA said that the non-collection of the balances “deprived DOE of using the funds for their intended purposes.”
As of December 2022, the remaining balance to be collected is Php 1.02 billion.
COA noted that the total billings for Training Commitment (TC) in 2022 reached Php 972.3 million. However, the collection was only Php 198.78 million.
The outstanding Development Assistance (DA), meanwhile, amounted to Php 264.52 million, but only Php 18.9 million was collected.
TC and DA funds are collected by the DOE from services contracts that are related to exploration, development, and production of conventional energy sources like petroleum and coal, and renewable energy projects like biomass, geothermal, hydropower, ocean or tidal, wind, and solar.
Funds from TCs are used for the training needs of DOE personnel, and if left unpaid within the year, it will accrue for the duration of the service contract.
Meanwhile, DAs are financial obligations aimed at improving DOE’s technical resources, thus facilitating the administration and monitoring of related projects. The said assistance can be provided in cash or in-kind.
Data from the uncollected obligations from service contractors revealed that the largest outstanding balance comes from hydropower at Php 275 million, wind at Php 152 million, petroleum at Php 141 million, and solar and Php 112 million.
DOE said that it will strategize on how to improve collections from energy operators regardless of the contract status.