Power Watch – Negros (PW-N) commended Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday, April 30, for pushing for the Senate’s passage of a bill that will grant a franchise to the Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC) to take over the power distribution services in Bacolod City and neighboring areas amid mounting brownouts caused by aging facilities of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO).
Poe, Senate Committee on Public Services chairperson, sponsored House Bill No. 9805 during the Senate plenary session on Monday.
Power Watch Negros Secretary General Wennie G. Sancho said the endorsement by Poe “is a big morale booster for the consumers in the franchise area of CENECO who are reeling from power outages and brownouts, giving them inconvenience and difficulties especially when power interruptions occur in the middle of the night.”
On Sunday 27 brownouts occurred in Bacolod City as the heat index rose to 43 degrees Celsius causing some power lines, insulators and transformers to burn.
Power Watch Negros considers Poe a “beacon of hope in these darkest hours”, Sancho said.
Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said “I fully support Sen. Grace’s call to expedite the passage of the franchise of NEPC in order to begin the implementation of the proposed modernization program and improvement of equipment and facilities”.
NEPC is a partnership formed through a joint venture agreement (JVA) between Primelectric, the same parent company of Iloilo’s MORE Power, and CENECO, the existing power distribution utility in the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay, and Silay and the municipalities of Don Salvador Benedicto and Murcia in Negros Occidental.
“We recognize the achievements of CENECO in its five decades of service to member-consumers in Negros. Undeniably, through these years, there has been remarkable growth in Western Visayas which included CENECO’s franchise area. However, as demand for power continues to increase, CENECO was unable to keep up with the challenges,” Poe said in her sponsorship speech on Monday.
Poe pointed out that CENECO has admitted to its inability to rehabilitate and upgrade its facilities due to its current financial standing.
NEA has reported that CENECO is operating at a negative profit margin and has failed to pay its debts on time. In 2023, it was classified as a Yellow-1 electric cooperative for its poor performance on collection efficiency, systems loss, working capital requirements, and financial operations, she added.
“Amid these difficulties, NEPC has expressed its readiness and willingness to invest capital to modernize the distribution system and address the operational challenges. We believe this investment would benefit not only the franchise area but also the power sector and the Philippine economy in general,” Poe said.
“We can see what MORE Power has done in Iloilo since we passed its franchise in 2019. Consumers in its franchise area now enjoy lower rates, vast improvement in facilities, and better customer service,” she said.
“The good thing about having this agreement is that the mutual objective of the two parties is to improve the electricity service for the Negrense,” she added.
Poe, in her sponsorship speech, also responded to the issues raised during the public hearing questioning the legality of the CENECO- Primelectric joint venture agreement and the execution of a plebiscite.
Section 16 of Presidential Decree No. 269 or the National Electrification Administration Act authorizes electric cooperatives, like CENECO, to enter into contracts, she pointed out.
So the execution of the JVA is left to the wisdom of CENECO, she said.
On claims of irregularities in the conduct of the plebiscite on the JVA, Poe said her committee has received position papers from the regulators and local government units covered by the franchise area who maintained the integrity of the plebiscite.
There were no reports from voting precincts or any remedial action timely filed to protest the voting result. NEA was even tapped to cleanse the master list of voters of dead or missing people, she said.
Poe also pointed out that CENECO employees will be paid the retirement or separation pay due to them. NEPC will also give preference to hiring qualified employees who will resign, retire or cease working for CENECO, she added.
Poe said her sponsorship House Bill No. 9805 reflects her optimism that NEPC will pave the way for better and more expansive power service in the country.
“We wish that no student will be in the light of a candle or gas stove and no parent will stay up late fanning their children,” she said.
“Our task is to be responsive to the needs of our constituents not only today but also in the future,” Poe added.*