SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines – With a power rate hike in Metro Manila and the power crisis in Mindanao, the government has been urging Filipinos to conserve electricity. Yet a state audit report showed that its own power bill went up.
The Annual Financial Reports of the Commission on Audit (COA) showed that the government’s electricity bill increased to P19.54 billion in 2012, up by about P2 billion from the year before.
The figure was based on the consumption of both national government agencies and local government units (LGUs).
The goverment bill is expected to go up still. The power consumption of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local water districts is not included in the audit. Fifty-nine national agencies and 29 municipalities also submitted their reports in time for the preparation of the COA report.
The total bill for national government agencies reached P8.879 billion in 2012, higher by almost P1 billion from the 2011 amount of P7.881 billion.
COA listed the following national government agencies as having the highest electricity bills:
- State colleges and universities – P1.153 billion
- Department of Education – P951.51 million
- Department of Health – 793.198 million
- Department of the Interior and Local Government – P772.618 million
- Department of Transportation and Communications – P574.82 million.
Besides the top 5 agencies, also included in the computation were other line agencies and executive departments, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the judiciary.
Still, the COA report did not cover 18.25% or 59 out of 323 national government agencies because they did not beat the deadline to submit their financial audit reports.
For the LGUs, the total bill was P10.661 billion, up by exactly P1 billion from the 2011 figure.
The audit involved 80 provinces, 143 cities, and 1,462 municipalities. Twenty-nine municipalities did not submit reports on time.
Cities had the highest electricity bills, totaling P6.383 billion. Municipalities
came in second with P2.921 billion, while provinces used up P1.357 billion worth of power. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.