NEA tasked to help co-ops secure green energy requirements

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) is mandating the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to facilitate electric cooperatives’ (ECs) joint bidding process for sourcing renewable energy.

Department Order No. 2025-06-0008 tasked the NEA to promulgate guidelines on the conduct of a competitive selection process (CSP) to ensure that co-ops are complying with the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS).

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RPS is a market-based policy that mandates electricity suppliers, such as distribution utilities and co-ops, to source a portion of their energy requirements from eligible renewable sources, such as biomass, waste-to-energy, wind, solar, ocean, run-of-river hydro, other impounding hydro systems, geothermal and hybrid systems.

The DOE said the rules should be released within 15 days from the issuance of its order dated June 11.

The NEA was also tasked to make sure that co-ops choices’ would redound to cheaper consumer rates while ensuring the timely execution of power supply contracts with generation companies.

The NEA, which supervises 121 ECs across the country, should conduct the CSP within 15 days from the issuance of the rules, craft the terms of reference and other bidding documents.

RPS is one of the mechanisms introduced by the DOE to increase renewable energy uptake in the country. Utilization in on-grid areas increased to 2.52 percent in 2023 from a flat 1 percent from 2018 to 2022.

“Adequate and proper power supply contracting by ECs ensures that electricity demand is sufficiently met and protects electricity end-users from unnecessary exposure to the volatility of spot prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM),” the order read.

ECs tap additional power from the WESM—the centralized marketplace for electricity trading—to meet electricity demand.

Based on historical data, WESM prices are higher than the rates offered in power supply agreements, especially during the summer season.

The DOE said the bidding process would allow co-ops to match available renewable supply with demand, allowing for a better uniform rate.

The government is targeting to reach a 35-percent renewable share in the power generation mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

(2025/06/16-02:20)