Negros power firm seeks ERC’s go signal to operate

The Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC) is seeking the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) green light to begin its operations after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved its 25-year franchise in July.

The firm hopes to secure provisional authority to make its business up and running while the ERC’s virtual hearing on its application is in progress, according to the document posted on the regulator’s website on Wednesday, October 2.

The company filed in July its application for the issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN), which is a requirement for it to deliver power in the cities of Negros Occidental, namely Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, and Bago, and the municipalities of Don Salvador Benedicto and Murcia.

More than 220,000 active accounts are expected to be covered by NEPC, a joint venture company between Primelectric Holdings Inc. (PHI) and Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO).

Based on its application, the firm and CENECO were already preparing for the transfer of operations from the latter to the joint venture.

Both parties assured that “no such disruption of electric distribution services in the franchise area will occur during the transition of operations.”

“NEPC has the needed facilities, contracts, and personnel necessary for the operation of the distribution system in the franchise area,” it said.

The company stressed it would need a CPCN to “legally operate such assets.”

It also noted the group’s plan to absorb a total of 219 employees of CENECO.

“This will ensure continuity of operations and a smooth transition as these are the same personnel who operated the distribution system under CENECO and will be the same personnel who will operate such system under NEPC,” it said.

The Negros power firm earlier said it would initially spend P2 billion over five years to rehabilitate and modernize the distribution system.