• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Power Watch Negros has high expectations that the unsolicited proposal of two firms for a joint venture agreement with the Central Negros Electric Cooperative, will improve the services of the power utility firm.
Wennie Sancho, Power Watch secretary general, yesterday said they are looking forward that the joint venture proposal will provide consumers more affordable, reliable, efficient and stable power supply.
Ceneco failed in its task to overhaul and rehabilitate the most basic facilities, particularly the substations and power lines, which are literally overheating to full capacity. It also failed to calibrate thousands of old and defective meters, and to check massive pilferages by unscrupulous consumers, he said.
Sancho said they would like to think that the framers of the JVA had incorporated the complaints they had cited as one of the underlying principles to level up the technical operation of Ceneco as the platform of the JVA, by harnessing modern technology using the geographical information system.
“We expect that with the combined resources and industry expertise of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), and More Electric and Power Corp., they would come up with a scheme to reconfigure the system when there are sudden and unscheduled interruptions,” he said.
However, the basic principles of the JVA should be exposed to the full light of public scrutiny for purposes of transparency and accountability. They hope the Ceneco management will bring it to the barangay level for consumers to understand its content, Sancho said.
To those who are opposing the JVA, he said, it is their right. But what is their alternative? He asked.
“We should not look at the JVA as a business venture but consider it as some kind of mechanism that would at least change the course of history of Ceneco, especially with the introduction of state-of-the-art technology,” Sancho said.
Earlier, leaders of two Ceneco labor unions aired their opposition to the JVA, saying it would cause higher electricity rates because of Meralco and More Power’s desire for profit, and cause a lot of Ceneco employees to lose their jobs, among others.*
