The National Power Corporation (Napocor) warned of possible power outages affecting more than one million households nationwide due to the cuts in its 2023 budget.
During the power sector budget hearing on Friday, Oct. 14, Napocor officials said the Php 32.212 billion budget allocated by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the agency in the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP) are not enough to fund its operations for an entire year.
A Php 12.536 billion was slashed from the agency's original proposed budget of Php 44.479 billion pesos.
“[T]hat Php 32.212 billion DBM recommended level will not be enough to cover our full-year operations requirements intended for our power plants and barges as well as the NPP-QTP subsidy requirements, considering the fuel as projected would continue to escalate based on the BCCP fuel price assumption,“ Napocor finance planning, budget, and program review Jenalyn Tinonas said.
She said without the additional Php 12.5 billion, 278 existing power plants might shut down by the end of July next year.
Tinonas explained that their budget for diesel fuel was good enough to cover their January to July 2023 operations only, hence possible shutdown may happen.
Out of 278, a total of 200 power plants might shut down in Luzon, affecting 235,208 households.
In Visayas, 54 power plants are seen to shut down, which will affect 42,513 households. While in Mindanao, there are 27 power plants, affecting 180,562 households.
Apart from this, Tinonas said the budget reduction could also lead to the deferment of payments for subsidy requirements to National Power Providers and Qualified third-party providers.
In consequence, power outages are expected to happen that would be affecting 834,385 households nationwide, she said.
Out of the 834,385 households nationwide, about 729,819 households will be affected in Luzon; 96,050 households in Visayas; and 8,416 households in Mindanao.
Likewise, Tinonas said budget cuts could lead to delayed power to 44 unserved areas: 15 areas in Luzon with 5,715 households will be affected; 14 areas in Visayas with 7,804 households; and 15 areas in Mindanao with 17,421 households.
