State-owned National Power Corp. is seeking the support of Congress to augment its 2023 budget to ensure it can sustain the operations of 278 power plants under the Small Power Utilities Group nationwide.
Napocor sent a letter to House Committee on Appropriations chairman Rep. Elizaldy Co and vice chairman Rep. Stella Quimbo on the need for supplemental budget in the General Appropriations Act for 2023 or additional funding sources.
“Inclusion of our proposed special provisions in the GAA would allow our board to augment our budget if possible sources of funds become available without going back to Congress,” said Napocor president and chief executive Fernando Martin Roxas.
Napocor said the augmentation was needed due to the volatility of fuel prices which are now priced twice as much as the initially available funds.
Fuel accounts for almost 70 percent of the corporation’s operational costs for both the SPUG plants and new power provider subsidies.
Roxas said other contingency measures being considered are credit lines from Landbank of the Philippines, immediate approval of tariff applications before the Energy Regulatory Commission and reimbursements for the advances made in the maintenance of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant from 2011 to 2023 in the amount of P404 million.
Napocor powers up far-flung islands and communities not connected to the main grid as mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
It provides electricity to around 1.3 million households in the countryside.