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Republic of the Philippines NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION Quezon City Media Release 17 August 2010 Need for Strong Institutions Underscored in NEA-EC Conference “There is a need for the electric cooperatives to be strong institutions for long-term sustainability in the competitive electricity industry”, said Administrator Edita S. Bueno as she addressed the 432 participants from 108 ECs and various local and foreign guests during the NEA-EC Consultative Conference in Quezon City on August 3, 2010. NEA Board Member Wilfred Billena, Mr. Nereus Acosta of AIM, DOE Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, BM Jose Victor Lobrigo, BM Joseph Khonghun and Administrators Edita Bueno discuss issues and concerns with the participants from the electric cooperatives during the NEA-EC Consultative Conference at the HES Auditorium in Quezon City on August 3, 2010. “NEA and the ECs want to be part of the solution and not the problems”, the Administrator added. Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras, who is also the Chair of the NEA Board of Administrators, lent his support to the undertaking with his attendance to the said conference. “Energy is such an important component of development. Electricity cuts across the whole spectrum of demographic areas and demographic classes. That is why NEA and the ECs are important components of the government initiative to bring services to the rural areas. There are many challenges in the energy sector and the key is to start finding the solution. We need to work together and to listen to each other. So, I think your activity today is great”, said the DOE Secretary. The conference is one of the highlights of the celebration of the 2nd National Electrification Awareness Month (NEAM) which kicked-off with the holding of the Family Day on August 1, 2010. Last year, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Proclamation Order No. 1743 declaring August of every year as National Electrification Month in recognition of the 40 year-old Rural Electrification Program’s contribution to nation building and countryside development. Administrator Bueno talked about “NEA-EC Decade of EPIRA Compliance, What Comes Next?” wherein she discussed topics in the EPIRA that directly affect the operation of the ECs. These include unbundling of rates; PSALM assumption of Rural Electrification (RE) loans; EC transition supply contract; default wholesale supplier (DWS); power supply contract; non-stock vs. stock ECs; competition facilities; wholesale electricity spot market (WESM); Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) privatization program; interclass subsidy; guarantee funds; value added tax; wholesale aggregators; and retail electricity suppliers (RES). In deference to the new administration, the conference took a workshop group mode for the first time. This was done for the participants to communicate and articulate issues and concerns regarding their cooperatives, the rural electrification sector and the electricity industry. It was expected to generate the best options, solutions and recommendations regarding these issues and concerns. The participants were divided into five groups namely: Group I (Competitive Edge: Long Term Sustainability); Group II (Good Governance – A Continuing Challenge); Group III (People Advocacy: Meaningful & Responsible participation of member Consumers); Group IV (EC Rewards & Options: Carrot & Stick Approach); and Group V (Woes & Wailings of SPUG ECs). Workshop Directors are Deputy Administrators Mariano Cuenco (Group I); John Joseph Magtuloy (Group II); Edilberto Bassig (Group IV) and Edgardo Piamonte (Group V) with the NEA directors as facilitators. The outputs of the groups were presented for critiquing to a panel composed of Mr. Nereus Acosta of Asian Institute of Management, Professor Rowaldo Del Mundo and Ms. Edna Espos, both of the University of the Philippines – National Engineering Center and Fr. Jose Victor Lobrigo of the NEA-Board of Administrators. A consolidated copy of the groups’ output was submitted to Secretary Almendras.###