Power co-ops adds over 500,000 new customers in 2020

Electric cooperatives (ECs) in the country exceeded their 2020 connection target after registering more than half a million new customers in their respective coverage areas. Data from the National Electrification Administration’s (NEA) Information Technology and Communication Services Department showed that ECs connected 522,905 new consumers last year, 14 percent or 62,905 more than its 460,000 corporate target. These brought the number of connections to 14,253,053 within the franchise areas of the 121 power co-ops. The number of unserved consumers in rural areas is cut to 1,550,510, based on the 2015 census. Of the total, 47 percent (6.682 million) are in Luzon; 27 percent (3.788 million) in the Visayas; and 26 percent (3.783 million) in Mindanao. “This achievement reflects the hard work and commitment of the NEA and the 121 electric cooperatives to provide and extend electricity services to Filipinos living in rural areas even though faced with challenges posed by the pandemic,” NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong said in a statement.