The utopian dream of the Marcos administration to achieve 100% household electrification on or before the end of its 2028 tenure will yield economic benefits summing up to P315 billion, according to the Department of Energy.

In a presentation to the media, Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina L. Guevara noted that the estimated benefits will be equivalent to 1.8% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), as reckoned from the 2023 inflation-adjusted GDP.

The energy official indicated that the calculation on the aggregate economic benefits of electrification had been recently presented to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and Department of Finance.

For the country to achieve the energization target up to the household levels nationwide, the scale of funding requirement will be P72 billion, Guevara said, adding that 2.0 million more Filipino homes have yet to benefit from round-the-clock electricity services.

“The DOE made a presentation to the NEDA and the DOF last week, it’s their first time to see that picture and they are excited about this. We hope that the excitement will be converted into funding the National Power Corporation (NPC) and the National Electrification Administration for the total electrification by 2028,” she stressed.

The country’s 100% electrification to the household level had been one of the commitments that President Marcos had declared in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year.

“We computed what is the return on investment if the government invests P72 billion in the next 3 years until 2028 and we achieve 100% electrification -- meaning to say, 24 hours electricity service all over the country, that is equivalent to P315 billion of economic contribution or 1.8% of the GDP,” she highlighted.

Guevara expounded when the unserved and underserved households can gain access to at least 8 hours of electricity services in a day, their income could improve by 17.9% and expenditure will also be shored up by 17%.

She further conveyed “if we increase access to electricity by 8-16 hours, the income increases by 33.3% and expenditure by 33%.”

When electricity service provision fully escalates to the level of 16-24 hours, she stated that “the income will increase by as much as 49.4%; and the expenditure by 52.2%.”

Nationwide electrification has been targeted across administrations, but none has so far reached the finish line, hence, new expectations are currently being laid on the shoulders of the current leadership.