Senate, House reconcile electric cooperative resiliency bills

THE SENATE and the House of Representatives have reconciled their versions of proposed legislation that will allocate state funding for emergency and resiliency initiatives of the country’s 122 electric cooperatives, the Senate’s energy committee said in a statement during the weekend.

“With this reconciled version of the bill, we will create a culture of resiliency in our electric cooperatives and will be responsive to their needs in the aftermath of natural disasters,” said Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, the principal sponsor of the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund Act (ECERF), as he presented the bicameral conference report before the Senate.

He said the measure, once approved by the President, would provide reliable power to “tens of millions of Filipinos nationwide.”

Mr. Gatchalian, the chairman of the Senate energy panel, said both chambers of Congress harmonized provisions of Senate Bill No. 1461 and House Bill No. 7054.

The legislation will appropriate an initial amount of P750 million for the purpose, carved out from the P7-billion budget of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. (NDRRMC) for electric cooperatives (ECs).

“The amount shall be immediately released to the National Electrification Administration Quick Response Fund for proper release to qualified electric cooperatives,” said Mr. Gatchalian, the author and the primary sponsor of the bill’s Senate version.

He noted that the ECs would no longer have to pass on the reconstruction costs of their damaged infrastructure from natural calamities directly to their more than 11 million consumers.

Mr. Gatchalian said a subsequent budget allocation would be included in the General Appropriations Act under the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund (ECERF).

“The allocation of the fund shall be exclusively for the restoration or rehabilitation of the electric cooperatives’ damaged infrastructure after a fortuitous event,” he said.

The amount should not be used for the conversion of a calamity loan into a grant, he added. He said the bill requires ECs to submit to the National Electrification Administration (NEA) their respective vulnerability and risk assessments, resiliency compliance plans, and emergency response plans every year as part of the requirements to access ECERF.

NEA has been mandated to receive funds, materials or equipment intended for the restoration and rehabilitation of the electric cooperatives’ infrastructure that was damaged by natural calamities.

Mr. Gatchalian said he was confident that the ECERF Act would be signed by President Duterte before his third State of the Nation Address in July.