The National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) are targeting to add 45.31 megawatts of power capacity, 71.3 circuit kilometers (km) of transmission lines and build 45.0 MVA substation facilities this year to provide electricity to some 30,000 unserved households.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Napocor said it will also add 11 Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) plants providing 24/7 electricity to unserved areas, as part of its missionary electrification project in 2021.

As of end-2020, Napocor said 1,080,242 households in missionary areas already have electricity while 473,845 remained unserved.

Despite the work suspensions as a result of several powerful typhoons and the COVID-19 pandemic, Napocor was able to surpass its 2020 target of providing electricity to unserved areas by 8,587 households for increase in operations and 2,433 households for new areas.

This year, Napocor plans to narrow this gap by providing electricity to 28,972 households, which will cut its backlog on unserved areas to 444,873 households.

Transco, meanwhile, targets to complete the power development plan (PDP) for the interconnection of unserved and underserved island municipalities this year. It is expected to come up with the studies and plans that will provide the general framework for the interconnection, by the end of the year.

Its goal is to complete its PDPs for the Palawan island grid and implement the PDP for the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority this year.

As of September 2020, Transco’s current assets amounted to P10.59 billion, up by 20 percent from the previous year’s record of P8.83 billion.

It said its total assets–comprising receivables, trust assets, plants, and equipment—dropped 2.8 percent from P326.39 billion in 2019 to P325.31 billion in 2020.

Transco reported budgetary savings of P503.86 million in 2020, with the bulk of its unspent funds coming from unrealized capital expenditures of P360.12 million.

The firm collected P108.96 million in right-of-way (ROW)-related capital expenditures last year and filed 76 expropriation cases.

Transco was also able to approve for settlement 49 claims related to expropriation issues.

This year, it said its goal is to file or settle 122 ROW cases and claims.

As of end-2020, Transco’s cash and investment balance amounted to P1.22 billion.

Preliminary data show that Transco has identified around P31.18 million from discontinued, deferred, or reduced programs and activities for COVID-18 related expenditures and disbursed P24.16 million of this amount.

As part of its support to the government’s COVID-19 response programs, Transco also donated food packs, vitamins, medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and individuals.

It likewise donated P7.5 million to the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) for the COVID-19 testing of Quezon city medical frontliners; opened a Transco dormitory to house health workers; and provided free transport service to frontliners and locally stranded persons.

Transco was able to inspect 63 out of its targeted 80 transmission facilities and projects in 2020, and is planning to conduct 85 asset inspections and 4 project inspections this year.

Napocor, meanwhile, was able to remit P4 billion in dividends to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) for the government’s pandemic response last year, which was P2.48 billion more than its target of P1.52-billion dividend contribution for 2020.

Last year, Napocor reduced its total liabilities by 1 percent to P17.15 billion from P17.32 billion in 2019.

As of end-December 2020, Napocor’s total cash balance amounted to P7.76 billion.

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