11 Benguet villages to be energized by SNAP

By Dexter A. See

BOKOD, Benguet - Gov. Nestor B. Fongwan said thousands of residents living in eleven villages hosting the Ambuclao and Binga dams will directly benefit from the implementation of various energization projects funded by SN Aboitiz Power Benguet (SNAP B) and the Department of Energy that will help accelerate socio-economic development of remote communities.

Fongwan disclosed the communities that stand to benefit from the electrification project are Marian Village, Hilltop, Camaya, Baloy, Riverside and Tower 5 in Binga and Lebung Hilltop, Ambangol, Sombrero and Campsite in Ambuklao.
         
 “Our private partners have been always doing their part in helping the national and local governments bring power to the countryside,” Fongwan said, adding the communities that stand to benefit from the energization project were deprived of the fruits of development over the past six decades since the two dams were built in their areas of jurisdiction in the early 1950s.

Lawyer Michael Bon Hosillos, SNAP spokesperson explained that SNAP-Benguet will fund the construction of distribution facilities that will be needed to connect the communities from Ambuklao and Binga plants to the distribution facilities of the Benguet Electric Cooperative so that power will be brought to the over 1,500 households living in the remote villages.

According to him, the power firm will source funds from its Corporate Social Responsibility Program, in order to realize the completion of the energization program that will improve the living condition of people in the aforesaid villages.

However, Hosillos added that this will not affect the funding of CSR proposals of host communities since the project will also be funded from the rural electrification component of Energy Regulation (ER) 1-94 fund which is lodged with the energy department. Managed by the Department of Energy, ER 1-94 mandates power generators to remit to host communities one-centavo per kilowatt-hour (P0.01/kWh) of their electricity sales annually to fund the implementation of energization projects and other energy-related projects of host communities where power generation plants are located.

“SNAP is also developing a power subsidy program exclusive for qualified displaced families equivalent to up to 150 kilowatt-hour per identified qualified displaced beneficiary in the identified host communities so that they will be able to feel the fruits of hosting the two power plants and a chance to improve the living condition of local residents who were deprived of development opportunities," Hosillos stressed, adding that the Aboitiz-owned power generation firm is inclined to fulfill its previous commitments to the host communities in order for the people to realize that the injustices committed in the past will eventually heal.

SNAP and BENECO are also looking at other ways of providing assistance to the communities to facilitate the transition.

Under the restructured power industry, power generation companies are not among those authorized to undertake distribution of electricity to end-users. Distribution of electricity to end-users is a regulated common carrier business requiring a national franchise. BENECO holds the distribution franchise over Benguet.