The Department of Public and Highways (DPWH) and National Electrification Administration (NEA), with the imprimatur of the Department of Energy (DOE), will need to agree and draw up a formula for prudent compensation on the relocation of electric poles that shall be straddled by the various infrastructure projects of the government.

The proposed compensation formula will be part of the consultation to be undertaken this September 5 for the new round of updating of the Joint Circular that was first signed by the DPWH and DOE in 2017, and had been successively modified in years 2019 and 2021.

Based on data from the NEA, there were already 53,017 poles owned by the electric cooperatives (ECs) that had been relocated to give way to the infrastructure development buildout being advanced by the State.

As culled from the electrification agency’s calculation, the estimated funding for the relocated poles already topped P4.3 billion.

Under draft Circular No. 4 that is anticipated to be signed by the DPWH and DOE soon, it was stipulated that the NEA and the DPWH must “jointly adopt the guidelines which shall provide the procedure for the timely and complete removal and relocation of distribution facilities that obstruct, or are affected by DPWH projects implemented within the national road in the country.”

As emphasized, “the joint guidelines shall cover distribution facilities that are likely or at risk of becoming an obstruction to future DPWH projects within the national road.”

Relative to the agreed formula for compensation of the poles’ transfer of the ECs, NEA shall also take on the added role of monitoring “the disbursement of funds from the DPWH to the ECs.”

Additionally, the electrification agency must “support the ECs in seeking regulatory support for the recovery of costs of removal and relocation of affected distribution facilities which may not be covered by the compensation provided under the DPWH-NEA joint guidelines.”

In case of delays or failure of the ECs to implement the transfer of electric poles that will be traversed by government projects, it will also be NEA that shall enforce the necessary action against that particular utility.

It is likewise incumbent upon the government-run electrification agency to provide semestral reports to the DOE, DPWH as well as the House of Representatives and Senate “on the progress of the removal and relocation of obstructing and affected distribution facilities and the payment of compensation to ECs.”