Napocor warns of power outages next year due to budget issue

The National Power Corporation (Napocor) has warned of power outages if its budget for next year is not increased.

Jenalyn Tinonas of Napocor's financial planning, budget, and program review division told the Senate on Friday that the government-owned firm would only receive P32.2 billion in 2023, P12.5 billion less than what it had requested from the Department of Budget and Management.

“There might be a shutdown of 278 existing plants by the end of July 2023 because the budget for our diesel fuel will only cover January to July 2023 operations,” Tinonas said during the budget hearing, which was cited in Lei Alviz’s report on “24 Oras Weekend” on Saturday.

“There will be a deferment of scheduled energization of 44 new unserved areas, affecting 15 areas in Luzon, 14 in Visayas, and 15 in Mindanao,” she added.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said that around 1.3 million households would be affected should outages occur as a result of the shutdown of power plants.

Savings, loans, government subsidies, and the collection of unpaid debts are just some of the funding options that have been identified to sustain Napocor's operations, according to Gatchalian.

To increase energy supply in the country, some places are being looked at for potential gas reserves, including Palawan, the report said. — Sherylin Untalan/VBL, GMA News