Government-run National Electrification Administration and the Federation of International Cable TV and Telecommunications Association of the Philippines (FICTAP) will resolve concerns on proposed new rate on joint pole rentals that these two industries’ convergence will be pursuing moving forward.

On the part of NEA and the electric cooperatives (ECs), it was noted that an inter-agency coordination meeting has been organized by the electrification agency so it can firm up its position on the proposed Standard Joint Pole Rental Agreement with FICTAP.

A NEA memorandum that had been issued way back in 2018 effectively pegged the maximum pole rental rate at P420 per cable position per pole annually; but since that had been set four years ago, an updating of the rates had already been recommended.

According to Ernesto O. Silvano Jr., deputy administrator for Technical Services at NEA, the agency has already presented to FICTAP “the detailed computation of the pole rental rate which was formulated last 2018.”

However, it was conveyed that FICTAP, through its National Chairman Estrellita Juliano-Tamano, had made an appeal to NEA “to lower the said rental charge,” hence, there had been a push for consultation so the relevant parties can come up with mutually acceptable new rate for the joint pole rentals.

In particular, NEA Administrator Emmanuel P. Juaneza indicated that “the agency will review immediately the said computation.” Owing to that step then, a technical working group will be formed and subsequent consultations with affected stakeholders will be carried out.

And while a ‘compromise rate’ has yet to be agreed upon, the electrification agency emphasized that the prevailing rate shall be enforced for the meantime.

"The general direction that I'm looking at now is to have a proper engineering review in terms of depreciation of the poles of the electric cooperatives without compromising the investments of the ECs,” Juaneza pointed out.

He similarly appealed to the cable TV operators and telecommunications firms to share any information that they have been using as basis in deriving their own rate assumptions for the joint pole rental arrangement.

The NEA chief stated that this coordination with FICTAP on the calculation of the new rates “would help us make a full assessment to come with a price that will be good for the electric cooperatives and will also be good for your organization.”

The revised rate-setting for the pole rentals is also being coordinated with the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (PHILRECA), an organization that has oversight on the country’s 121 electric cooperatives that have been servicing roughly 15 million electricity consumers nationwide.