The highest rate ever implemented by Central Negros Electric Cooperative was the result of simple neglect of duty, Power Watch secretary general Wennie Sancho said yesterday in a press statement.
Ceneco announced that the average residential rate for the billing month of July is P14.1881 per kWh, or an increase of P2.0710 kWh, from last month’s rate of P12.1171/ kWh.
Sancho said that contrary to the claim of Ceneco president Jojit Yap that the 30 days suspension implemented by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) in a Decision/Order dated May 30, was only a slight offense due to procedural lapses and carelessness or indifference, and that there was no adverse effect on the Ceneco consumers.
“We want to correct that this is an understatement on the part of the Ceneco-Board of Directors (BOD) who are trying to represent as less, than is the case, just like an apologist acting in defense of a failure to exercise the care that a prudent person usually exercises,” he said.
Sancho said they could not ignore the fact that the adverse financial effect of this simple neglect of duty to the consumers is not so small or unimportant or of so little consequence as to warrant little or no attention.
“The record will speak for itself if we examine our monthly electric bills. Our average residential rate for July is P14.19 per kilowatt hour (kWh). There was an increase of P2.07 per kWh compared to the previous month which was P12.12 per kWh. We are aware that there are ramifications of this increase in other charges being passed on to us by Ceneco,” he said.
Who said that simple neglect of duty has no adverse effect to the consumers in the midst of unabated price increases in the cost of basic goods and services? Let alone their broken promise for the implementation for the refund amounting to P238 million? He asked.
By now, the respondents who are guilty of simple neglect of duty should have evaluated the situation as members of the BOD, if they had fulfilled their mandate to supply electricity in the least cost manner to the captive market and if their decision to extend the 20 MW contract with Kepco Salcon Power Corp.(KSPC) resulted to the prejudice of the member-consumer-owners (MCOs) by paying substantially more expensive electricity rates, depriving the consumers the chance to avail cheaper electricity cost, Sancho said.
They should have evaluated the situation as members of the BOD if they had fulfilled their mandate to supply electricity in the least cost manner to the captive market and if their decision to extend the 20 MW contract with KSPC resulted to the prejudice of the consumers, he said.
So far, the increase of P2.07 per kWh is the highest electricity rate ever in the history of Ceneco, courtesy of the Ceneco BOD who were found guilty of simple neglect of duty, at the expense of the consumers in the form of additional financial burden, Sancho added.*
