• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
In an initial survey jointly conducted with the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO), Negros Electric Power Corporation (Negros Power) discovered an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 possible illegal electric connections within the CENECO franchise area, Negros Power president Roel Castro revealed yesterday.
Castro, who spoke at the Negros Island Power Forum organized by the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the L’ Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City, said they conducted a survey of 176,178 electric meters of CENECO’s 220,000 consumers.
In the process, we found out that 5,000 to 6,000 are illegal connections, with 80,000 electric meters that are not sealed, he added.
Asked if they will pursue charges, once they take over CENECO, Castro said they will be compassionate and let the violators apply for legal electrical connections.
The franchise sought by Negros Power has already been approved by the House of Representatives and is now being deliberated at the Senate, after it was approved on its first reading.
Negros Power seeks a 25-year franchise to set up a power distribution utility to serve end users in various areas within central Negros, including areas of Bacolod City, cities of Bago, Talisay and Silay, as well as towns of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto.
For every illegal connection, it is the promptly paying CENECO member-consumers who absorb the power theft. It is unfair for those paying religiously, Castro said.
The survey of all CENECO electric meters is targeted by Negros Power to be completed by the end of March this year.
CENECO’s system loss was reported at 12 percent.
When MORE Power, the sister company of Negros Power, took over the electric distribution facility in Iloilo City, it also discovered about 80,000 illegal connections.
Castro expressed optimism that the Senate will also approve their franchise application.*
