Ceneco consumers lament poor services, push for NEPC’s franchise bid

MANILA, Philippines — Lamenting the poor services of an electric cooperative in Negros Occidental, residential consumers pressed Congress to grant the franchise application of Negros electric and Power Corp. (NEPC).

Homeowners-consumers, composed of community associations of Barangay Banago, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, signed a statement of support for a bill, granting a legislative franchise to NEPC.

The measure has been approved in the House of Representatives and is now pending before the Senate committee on public services.

Those who signed the statement are chairpersons of Parents  of Purok Riverside Incorporated, Purok Tinagong Paraiso (Homeowners Association), Tinagong Paraiso, Empowered Women’s Org., Banago Yuhom Takers Association, Mahimulaton Homeowners Association, and Jovita Garcia-Yogore, Homeowners Association.

According to them, consumers of Central Negros Electric Cooperative’s (Ceneco)
were “deprived of their need for a reliable power supply and efficient services” for several decades now.

“Ceneco as a distribution utility miserably failed to provide us with adequate power supply resulting to massive blackout, power outages and brownouts,” they said in the statement.

“Instead of comfort and convenience, we have been suffering from inconvenience and frustrations that we do not deserve as consumers due to poor consumer care,” they added.

Contrary to their expectations, they said, the services of Ceneco were “inadequate.”

Systems loss subsidy

They also lamented why they have to bear the financial burden of Ceneco’s systems loss, which they claimed is being passed on to them through higher electricity rates.

During last week’s hearing in the Senate, Ceneco General Manager Atty. Arnel Lapore reported that their system loss subsidy jumped to P173 million in 2022 from P20 million in 2021.

The recorded loss in 2023 was at P149 million, Lapore  added.

The signatories then believe there is an “urgent need to rehabilitate the infrastructure of  Ceneco and to revamp its management.”

“Hence, our call to support the congressional franchise application of NEPC, hopefully, to end, if not minimize power outages and other forms of frequency disturbances,” they stressed.

To improve the power distribution in the Ceneco franchise area, the  firm partnered last year with Primelectric Holdings Inc., the mother company of NEPC.

This partnership is projected to reduce the electricity cost for its consumers by at least P1 per kilowatt-hour, NEPC President Roel Castro earlier told the  public services committee.