29 October 2025
Climate Smart Ventures and PHILRECA Partner to Strengthen Climate Resilience of Electric Cooperatives by Piloting and Institutionalizing a Pooled Insurance Mechanism
Climate Smart Ventures and PHILRECA Partner to Strengthen Climate Resilience of Electric Cooperatives by Piloting and Institutionalizing a Pooled Insurance Mechanism
29 October 2025 – Quezon City, Philippines – Climate Smart Ventures (CSV) and the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (PHILRECA) have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to develop sustainable financial protection that strengthens disaster resilience across the country’s rural energy sector.
The Philippines ranked first in the 2025 World Risk Index out of 193 countries, underscoring its high exposure and vulnerability to increasingly severe and frequent climate-related disasters, particularly typhoons. Among the most affected are the country’s Electric Cooperatives (ECs), which play a vital role in powering rural areas but often face immense challenges in restoring services after disasters. ECs in the Philippines operate as membership-based nonprofit electricity providers, and they play a significant role in energy infrastructure development for remote areas of the 7,000+ island country.
Through this partnership, CSV and PHILRECA will undertake the Risk Pooling for Electric Cooperatives (RPEC) Project – building on CSV’s off-grid hybridization initiatives – which aims to establish a pooled insurance mechanism providing ECs with financial protection against climate-induced disasters. This innovative approach will help ECs recover more quickly, maintain service continuity, safeguard energy security, and enhance long-term climate resilience in vulnerable communities.
By introducing a pooled insurance mechanism, the initiative seeks to help ECs proactively integrate climate adaptation and resilience into their operations, without adding financial burden to consumers, and ensure that rural communities continue to access affordable, reliable, and resilient electricity.
This project also addresses the limitations of and complements current government policies, especially the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund (ECERF), which are often insufficient and delayed, leaving ECs dependent on loans. These loans pass repayment costs directly to consumers through additional charges on their electricity bills, further burdening vulnerable households and slowing recovery.
Project RPEC is designed for a three-year implementation period to pilot an insurance program for ECs’ power infrastructure and institutionalize a cost recovery mechanism for payment of premiums. The project is structured into two phases – the first phase establishes the baseline by assessing ECs’ financial health, engaging regulators and key agencies, and developing a proposal to the International Climate Risk Financing Organization. The second phase would implement the grant through actuarial modeling, procurement of insurance coverage for typhoon-related damages, and building sustainability mechanisms through cost recovery and knowledge sharing. PHILRECA will serve as the primary applicant and grantee, with CSV acting as the technical consultant for both phases of the project.
The MoA was signed by Mr. Matthew Carpio, Head of Transaction Advisory at CSV, and Atty. Janeene Depay-Colingan representing PHILRECA. PHILRECA Party-list Representative Hon. Presley De Jesus and PHILRECA President Mr. Jose Raul Saniel also signed the MoA as witnesses.
In Mr. Saniel’s welcoming remarks, he emphasized, “Today’s partnership is about securing the lifelines of the communities we serve—families, farmers, fisherfolk, and small enterprises—whose future depends on reliable, affordable, and resilient electricity. Through the Risk Pooling for Electric Cooperatives, or RPEC, PHILRECA and CSV will design a sustainable financial shield for our sector. The concept is straightforward but powerful. By pooling risks across many cooperatives, we can secure better, more affordable protection, recover faster, and keep serving our consumers when they need us most.”
Additionally, Hon. De Jesus expressed strong support for the project, emphasizing its importance as electric cooperatives strive to adopt more innovative and smart solutions for the sector. His support is particularly valuable, as he serves in the Philippine Congress representing the PHILRECA Party-list, a national coalition that advocates for over 120 ECs and their millions of Member-Consumer-Owners across the country.
Mr. Carpio highlighted the relevance of the project, stating, “With the increasing frequency and intensity of typhoons due to climate change, Project RPEC intends to develop a market-based approach that aims to lower costs not only for our ECs but also for the government and our member-consumers. Instead of relying solely on government appropriations or commercial loans, our member-consumers will benefit from a system where premiums are shared, making recovery more sustainable and accessible for all.”
This project and partnership come at a crucial time for ECs to strengthen their capacity, proactively adapt to the changing climate, and advance towards becoming an energy-efficient and climate-resilient sector.
About Climate Smart Ventures
Climate Smart Ventures (CSV) is an advisory firm advancing the energy transition in Asia. Our expertise and projects span coal to clean utility-level energy transition, industrial decarbonization, grid transformation, transition finance, and government-level policy recommendations. We also provide ESG and sustainability advisory services, focused on decarbonization and management of environmental and social impacts. Ecosystem building and collaboration are key elements of our firm, which partners closely with the region’s leading corporates and power portfolio owners, investors, off-takers, and others. For more information, visit https://climatesmartventures.com.
About Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association
The Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association, Inc. (PHILRECA) is the national organization of all the Electric Cooperatives and EC Allied Organizations in the country. For over four decades, PHILRECA has advocated to empower electric cooperatives as they continue their pursuit towards rural electrification while ensuring the quality, reliability, and global competitiveness of the electric cooperatives. For more information, visit https://web.philreca.org/home.
Media Contact:
Ruth Giselle Reyes
Marketing Associate
ruth@climatesmartventures.com