Page 2 - CentRE agenda for power reforms.cdr

 Providing more financing options for power developers and consumers wanting to transition to
renewable energy. It can directly mobilize Government Financial Institutions (GFI) for this effort,
while encouraging legislation that requires the banking system to prioritize credit to business
activities that utilize RE;

 Removing barriers such as Distribution Impact Studies (DIS) and other obstacles to full
implementation of Net Energy Metering being required by distribution utilities;

 Requiring all government-owned buildings (NGAs and LGUs), including mass housing projects,
to install solar panels and implement a more aggressive energy efficiency program. This initiative
can be financed under the national expenditure program or through government-run funding
facilities.

 The National Electrification Administration (NEA), Cooperative Development Administration
(CDA) and Electric Cooperatives (EC) must be directed and then provided with adequate
incentives to pursue their electrification program through mini-grids and micro-grid systems that
utilize RE especially for geographically isolated areas. They must also be accorded priority for
developing their RE capacities within their franchise areas.

 Incentivizing consumers and prosumers, individually and collectively, must be the prime
consideration in the implementation of the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), Renewable
Energy Options (REO) and other policy mechanisms under the RE Law.

 DoE must undertake an audit for public transparency and full accounting of the 1-centavo per kWh
“Benefits to host Community” in order to look into how this fund was tapped and utilized in the
past years and in order to optimize its use for the benefit of host communities.

 Tedious requirements for Competitive Selection Process (CSP) must be waived for small power
projects.

B. Democratizing the power industry through RE and sound governance

 RE practitioners must have active participation in all energy policy making bodies, especially those
of the Department of Energy (DoE), National Renewable Energy Board (NREB), Power Sector
Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM), National Electrification Administration (NEA), and
the National Power Corporation (NPC).

 The government must put in place an action plan that would transform rural electric cooperatives
(RECs) into genuine cooperatives by ensuring that members actively participate in their
management, thereby enabling RECs to become engines of meaningful change at the local level.
RECs must be enabled to deliver renewable power to their consumer-owners.

 NEA’s current direction towards facilitating Private Sector Participation (PSP) in REC sector has
added more problems than solutions to the development of the countryside. Rather than hand over
RECs to the private sector, a redirection of NEA’s track towards greater consumer participation
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and awareness, greater embedded RE generation, greater access to the unconnected along with
demand side management, would make RECs more effective.

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