About 5,000 to 6,000 illegal power connections have been discovered within the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) franchise area, Roel Castro, president and chief executive officer of the Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC), said Wednesday, March 20.
He said these were discovered during a NEPC and CENECO joint survey of 178,000 of 220,000 electric meters of consumers. They hope to complete the survey by the end of the month, Castro said.
They also discovered about 80,000 electric meters without seals, he said.
NEPC is waiting for the Senate’s approval of a bill granting it a franchise to take over CENECO’s power distribution area.
The area covers Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, and Bago cities as well as Salvador Benedicto and Murcia towns in Negros Occidental.
Castro said the joint inspections are being conducted because he wants to know how many electric meters NEPC needs to prepare for when it takes over.
The illegal connections have resulted in an about 12 percent overall loss for CENECO, Castro said.
Those who have illegal connections will have to comply with what is legal or face raps, he said.
It is unfair for those who regularly pay their electric bills to have to also pay for the systems loss, he said.
LABOR
Castro said more than 250 CENECO employees have submitted applications to work for NEPC, and there were about 20 who withdrew their applications.
They are encouraging the CENECO employees to apply, he said. Their applications will be processed when the NEPC is granted a franchise, Castro added.*