Power Watch secretary general Wennie Sancho has inquired from Victor Rada, Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) Finance Manager, on the status and amount of consumers’ bill deposits.
On August 1, Power Watch Negros received a reply from Arnel Lapore, acting general manager of Ceneco, confirming that a Bill Deposit Fund has been deposited by Ceneco as restricted funds, amounting to P61.7 million.
Power Watch Negros has estimated the total amount of bill deposits to be about P277 million, and Ceneco explained that the rest of the fund was used to pay power suppliers in 2022, which shall be reimbursed and restored from the general fund as it becomes readily available, a press release from Power Watch said.
Because of the huge indebtedness of Ceneco, Power Watch Negros considers the financial difficulties of Ceneco when it utilized the funds from the bill deposits, despite the fact that it is a restricted fund. However, Power Watch Negros is confident that the amount will be reimbursed in due time for the claim of the Bill Deposit Refund, it said in a press release.
Sancho informed Lapore that Power Watch Negros will be sending the names of the first batch of consumers who will claim for the refund as early as possible.
He avers that if the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) will be ratified by the consumers in a plebiscite, there will be a payment of P2.4 billion for Ceneco’s distribution asset. On top of that, Primelectric Holdings will invest another P2 billion in the expansion and modernization of Ceneco.
Should the JVA be approved by the member-consumers, he claims that Ceneco will have substantial money to pay for its debts, including the payment of about P215 million for the refund of the consumers’ bill deposits to be claimed by the Ceneco consumers in addition to the P61.7 million deposited as Bill Deposit Fund in various banks.
He adds in the press release that the fruition of the JVA will be a “deliverance” for Ceneco in paying its indebtedness of more than P613 million. For consumers, it will be the full refund of their bill deposit of about P277 million. It would also be a deliverance from power outages, unscheduled brownouts, power interruptions and inefficient services.
With the JVA we will have a stable and reliable power supply, the press release claimed.*
