The National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) and the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) are targeting to add 45.31 megawatts of power capacity, 71.3 circuit kilometers (km) of transmission lines and build 45-megavolt ampere substation facilities this year to provide electricity to some 30,000 unserved households.
In a report to Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez III, NAPOCOR said it will also add 11 Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) plants providing 24/7 electricity to unserved areas, as part of its missionary electrification project in 2021.
As of end-2020, NAPOCOR said 1,080,242 households in missionary areas already have electricity while 473,845 remained unserved.
Despite the work suspensions as a result of several powerful typhoons and the COVID-19 pandemic, NAPOCOR was able to surpass its 2020 target of providing electricity to unserved areas by 8,587 households for increase in operations and 2,433 households for new areas.
NAPOCOR plans to narrow this gap in 2021 by providing electricity to 28,972 households, which will cut its backlog on unserved areas to 444,873 households.
Transco, meanwhile, targets to complete the power development plan (PDP) for the interconnection of unserved and underserved island municipalities this year. It is expected to come up with the studies and plans that will provide the general framework for the interconnection, by the end of the year.
Its goal is to complete its PDPs for the Palawan island grid and implement the PDP for the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority this year.
As of September 2020, Transco’s current assets amounted to Php10.6 billion, up by 20% from the previous year’s record of Php8.83 billion.
It said its total assets–comprising receivables, trust assets, plants, and equipment—dropped 2.8% from Php326 billion in 2019 to Php325 billion in 2020.
As of end-2020, Transco’s cash and investment balance amounted to P1.22 billion.
Preliminary data showed that Transco has identified around Php31.2 million from discontinued, deferred, or reduced programs and activities for COVID-19 related expenditures and disbursed Php24.2 million of this amount.
Last year, NAPOCOR reduced its total liabilities by one percent to Php17.2 billion from P17.3 billion in 2019.
As of end-December 2020, NAPOCOR’s total cash balance amounted to P7.76 billion.
