An additional credit line of P10 billion for state-run National Power Corporation (NPC) is planned for next year to prevent blackouts in the off-grid areas it has been servicing.

According to Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla, the new amount will be on top of the P5 billion that had been funneled to the power firm when it was struggling last year to keep up electricity services at its Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) service domain.

“We’re working on additional P10 billion just to make sure that the missionary areas or SPUG areas are not allowed to have their lights go out,” the energy chief said.

NPC President and CEO Fernando Y. Roxas presented to Congress that the total budget required by NPC next year would top P41 billion, and the lion’s share of P35 billion or about 84 percent shall be earmarked for its maintenance and other operating expenses.

Of the proposed allocation, he stated that P11.57 billion will be for fuel procurement and the balance will be for the operation of its SPUG plants and barges. Another P18.6 billion shall be set for subsidy payments to its new power providers (NPPs) and qualifying third parties (QTPs) or the private sector players that entered as service providers in these off-grid jurisdictions.

Roxas qualified that the company has 158 power plants, but it has only been servicing at least 28-percent of the energy needs of end-users in the small-island grids. The bulk of 70-percent or about 43 sites are now served by the private power entities.

“NPC is actually in the smallest islands; while the private sector has already taken over the more developed loads in these islands,” he stressed.

Beyond the MOOE allotments, Roxas noted that NPC will also be needing P3.6 billion worth of capital outlay for 2024 primarily for its SPUG plants; while P2.7 billion will cover personnel services for the more than 2,000 workforce of the company.

On the subsidies extended by the national government, the NPC chief executive emphasized that P6.72 billion or 81-percent had already been disbursed out of the P8.3 billion obligated amount.

By appropriation, the biggest pie of P15.6 will be coming from the universal charge for missionary electrification (UCME), or the line item in the electric bills being collected from all ratepayers.

Of the targeted UCME collections of P34.65 billion, however, Roxas indicated that only P3.9 billion had been allowed for recovery in the UCME approvals recently granted by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

More than P13 billion or 40 percent, he added, remains part of the deferred charges to be recouped by NPC, but these are still pending for regulatory approvals.

Many SPUG areas have been suffering from the dreaded power interruptions for years and that worsened when global oil prices reached new peaks as an aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war. In turn, it crippled NPC from providing round-the-clock electricity services to a wider swath of the off-grid areas.