BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Power Watch Negros averred that Central Negros Electric Cooperative stabbed its consumers in the back.
Power Watch secretary general Wennie Sancho yesterday said that while Power Watch was able to confront Ceneco representatives, sans the members of its Board of Directors (BOD) in a public hearing on August 18, and as consumers curse Ceneco for its repeated and consistent brownouts, backdoor negotiations had already been concluded between the electric cooperative (EC) and a power supplier via “emergency purchase” without undergoing the required competitive selection process (CSP).
This vital concern was never brought up by Ceneco representatives during the public hearing on Ceneco’s issues and concerns, Sancho said.
Christian Villena of Ceneco averred that the EC is in the process of holding a CSP when in fact there was none, because there was already a done deal between Ceneco and PCPC for a 20 megawatt power supply that was already delivered to Ceneco on July 26 in lieu of the 20MW power supply from Kepco- KSPC that was declared as the lowest calculated bidder in the CSP but was unfortunately rejected or mothballed by Ceneco, with the lowest price of P3.29 per kWh, he said.
Sancho said that since the process of negotiating power supply agreements was done surreptitiously without undergoing the CSP and without the knowledge of the consumer, it is considered irregular.
With the approval of this 20MW power supply agreement with Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) thru an emergency purchase, the issue becomes controversial and it would appear that “the consumers were stabbed on the back” because before we knew it, an Emergency Power Purchase Agreement (EPPA) was already signed and approved by the Ceneco BOD and top EC officers, surprisingly deciding on a price that is higher at the chronic expense of the consumers, he said.
With this unavoidable scenario, the Ceneco consumers are assured of continued power outages and unabated increases in the prices of electricity in the coming “ber” months, Sancho added.
“We do not know how many power supply agreements are being hatched in secret by some unscrupulous members of the BOD for the allegedly favored power suppliers,” he said.
Sancho said “For as long as the members of the BOD would make decisions involving power supply contracts surreptitiously by keeping the consumers in the dark, we can never expect reforms in Ceneco. For as long as the acting general manager of Ceneco would be acting in concert with the BOD and top EC officers, dancing in the same kind of music, Ceneco will deteriorate, causing irreparable damage to all the member-consumer-owners (MCOs).*
