The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) announced on Wednesday, June 1, that it has ordered Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) and two other cooperatives to refund over collections charged to their consumers.
The two others included in the ERC order are the Pangasinan I Electric Cooperative (PANELCO I) and La Union Electric Company (LUECO).
“The Commission resolved to approve with modifications the respective applications of CENECO, PANELCO I and LUECO for the approval of the over/under recoveries based on the formula on the various Automatic Cost Adjustments and True Up Mechanisms and corresponding confirmation process,” ERC Chairperson and CEO Agnes VST Devanadera said.
The ERC ordered CENECO to implement the refund of total net over-recoveries amounting to P237,949,425.51.
The total over-recoveries were incurred for the period from February 2004 to December 2017, it said.
The cooperatives were directed to submit a monthly report showing the effected refund until the amount shall have been fully refunded, the ERC said.
“The Commission issues the Notice of Resolution so that the concerned distribution utilities can already reflect the necessary bill adjustment and the consumers, in turn, will immediately benefit from the refund, considering the time between the approval of the Commission and the promulgation the official decision. The relevant formal decision will be issued as soon as possible,” Devanadera added.
Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III has ordered CENECO to implement the 2017 to 2022 economic provisions of its Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the CENECO Union of Rational Employees, CURE president Stefannie Montaner said Wednesday.
That means they should be paid for what was agreed on in the CBA, she said.
The order was signed by Bello on May 24 and their lawyer received a copy on Monday, May 30, she added.
CENECO’s management did not have immediate answers to the two orders on Wednesday.
A CENECO media forum on the DOLE and ERC orders has been set on Thursday, June 2.*