NEA extends deadline for payment of electric coops’ loan amortization

The National Electrification Administration (NEA) said Thursday it has extended the payment deadline for loan amortization of the electric cooperatives due for the second quarter of 2020.

The NEA issued Memorandum No. 2020-033, signed by Administrator Edgardo Masongsong, which extended the deadline for electric cooperatives to settle their loan amortization from June 30 to July 30, 2020.

The relief measure is in consideration of the declaration of a state of calamity throughout the country under Proclamation No. 929 due to coronavirus disease 2019 as well as the Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.

Masongsong said extending the payment period is meant to provide assistance that will ultimately "redound to the benefit of poor Filipino consumers in far-flung areas."

The NEA said it has been providing financial support to electric cooperatives through various loan windows for their capital expenditure projects and rehabilitation or upgrading of their distribution facilities.

The agency’s lending program includes regular, calamity and concessional loans, stand-by and short-term credit loans, single-digit system loss loan, renewable energy loan, and modular generator sets loan.

The NEA also allowed electric cooperatives to secure short-term loans from sources other than the agency like banks, financing companies, and other established financial intermediaries, as long as they are reasonable and appropriate.

Under the NEA Loan Policy No. 14-A, electric cooperatives may borrow money from financial institutions to augment monthly collection deficiencies that would cover their power bills; to facilitate working capital requirements; and for the purchase of maintenance vehicles.

“Terms and conditions of the loans must also be ‘fair and equitable,’ such that repayment period shall not exceed three years; interest rates are reasonable, and at the lowest, if possible; and the amount of loan shall not exceed three times the EC’s average power billings,” it said. -MDM, GMA News