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A ranking House of Representatives member is asking the Department of Energy (DOE) to finish its performance review of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) in the soonest possible time. Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte said that Congress "needs to decide soon enough on whether to alter or amend NGCP’s franchise agreement". As such, Villafuerte asked if the DOE "could complete at the soonest its NGCP performance audit, which, hopefully, can help us lawmakers reach a consensus on what actions we have to take to reverse the below par performance of our lone power grid operator in terms of preventing major power disruptions". Villafuerte, majority leader of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA), said lawmakers have two options with the NGCP, which President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. gave special mention to in this State of the Nation Address (SONA), albeit in an embarrassing way. First, solons could compel the NGCP to "upgrade its system and spend a sizable chunk of its earnings on interconnecting our major islands", or, second, they could "revoke its franchise altogether and award it to a much better concessionaire". The Bicolano said the second option can allow the government to "deliver cheaper and more stable and accessible electricity to consumers—and meet President Marcos’ goal of achieving 100 percent household electrification by 2028". Marcos highlighted this target in his second SONA last July 24, along with the delay in concessionaire’s 68 transmission projects, including those in the vital Mindanao-Visayas and Cebu-Negros-Panay grids. According to Villafuerte, "The NGCP’s apparent failure to keep up with its transmission development and interconnectivity program for the country is standing in the way of the President’s full-electrification target." "The executive department and the Congress must give paramount attention to accelerating the interconnection of our islands from north to south via the national power grid," the House leader said. The NGCP has a 50-year franchise, which Congress can take back anytime. Government data showed that the 68 delayed transmission projects mentioned by the President in his SONA covered 36 projects in Luzon, 21 in the Visayas and 11 in Mindanao--a combined P231 billion worth of supposed investments by NGCP between 2009 and 2019. Marcos said in his SONA: "Since my assumption into office, almost half a million homes have been given access to electricity. We will spare no effort to achieve full household-electrification by the end of my term. 100 percent is within our reach.”