The House Committee on Legislative Franchises on Wednesday unanimously approved the bill seeking to grant the Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC) a franchise, Rep. Stephen Paduano (Abang Lingkod Partylist) said Friday, Dec. 15.
Paduano is confident the House will approve House Bill 9310 on third and final reading in January, with the Senate hopefully approving its counterpart measure by February or March, or within the first quarter of next year.
He is hoping that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will then sign the franchise measure into law in the first half of 2024 that will allow NEPC to begin operations, Paduano said.
House Bill 9310 is a proposed act granting NEPC a franchise to establish, operate, and maintain a distribution system for the conveyance of electric power to the end users in the cities of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, and Bago and the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto, in Negros Occidental, and ensuring continuous and uninterrupted supply of electricity in the franchise area.
It outlines the transfer of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative franchise to NEPC, which was agreed on in a joint venture agreement that was ratified by CENECO consumer-members in a plebiscite earlier this year.
Paduano underscored the urgency of NEPC’s takeover of the CENECO power distribution operations to improve services and reduce systems loss.*