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[av_heading heading=’Lack of access to electricity’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Wednesday, January 11, 2017
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EVERY now and then, we experience brownouts. In urban and suburban areas, prolonged or unscheduled power failures are a big hassle. We curse the power producers and distributors. But think about those households in far-flung communities that still do not enjoy the convenience that electricity brings in this modern age.
The country’s electrification profile shows that 89 percent of households in Luzon have power, 79 percent in the Visayas, and a very low 56 percent in Mindanao. Urban electrification stood at 94 percent
while rural electrification in the country stood at a low of 73 percent.
Note that most of those who have no access to electricity primarily live in the rural areas, which account for 4.4 million households living in remote areas as well as in the outskirts of Metro Manila and Davao.
We want these statistics to reach 100 percent. But we do not want just statistics. We must ensure that indeed all barangays, sitios and households in the country are electrified. Let us push for full electrification of all barangays, sitios and households in the country through appropriate funding. Let us look into how much funding assistance is available from foreign sources, too, and how much the government can provide so that the country will not need to wait until 2020 to achieve full electrification.
However, electrification goals would need to be aligned with a low-carbon objective in the energy sector. The sustainable development-energy nexus requires an urgent examination of how the country can tap cleaner forms of energy to provide for the region’s requirements. There must be universal access to electricity under a sustainable framework.
Lack of access to electricity is a fundamental issue that keeps our poor in the bondage of poverty. Education needs electricity. Functioning health clinics and pumps for water and sanitation require electricity. Unless universal access to electricity is achieved, the prosperity that economic growth aims to deliver will amount to nothing but an empty promise.
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