The Executive Committee of the Alliance of Concerned Consumers in Electricity and Social Services (ACCESS) after the Central and Northern Negros Consumers Conference on April 30, in Bacolod City, came up with an evaluation on the importance and consumer benefits of the unsolicited proposal of the Negros Power and Electric Corp., for a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA)/Partnership with Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (NONECO).
According to Wennie Sancho, president of ACCESS and head of the Executive Committee, there are current problems today under NONECO that are hurting the consumers. Among these are high system losses of about 12 to14 percent against the 8.25 percent ERC cap. Northern Negros electricity consumers are paying for electricity that they did not use due to leaks, being pilfered, or which never reached them. The most common issues are frequent power outages, no CAPEX money, cooperative debts, limited financial resources. Others are old substations, undersized wires, and no smart meters.
In addition, consumers are suffering from high generation costs. Poor customer services, manual billings, slow connections, 3 to 5 days to reconnect, no hotline that works 24/7. Northern Negros consumers under NONECO pays more for worse services because it lacks scale, capital and bargaining power.
According to ACCESS research, some of the projected benefits of the NEPC-NONECO partnership if it would materialize are, lower electricity rates, cut system loss from 12 to 14 percent to 5.5 percent in three years via meters, anti-pilferage, rehabilitation of distribution lines. A P2 billion CAPEX in five years. New Sagay and Cadiz substations, upgraded 69kV lines, looped feeders SCADA, and 24/7 response time.
Furthermore, a stable power supply will boost the economy in Northern Negros. Investors will come to Sagay, Cadiz and Victorias ecozones that will generate more employment opportunities. Franchise tax to LGU increases. It is a JVA/Partnership with accountability.
The bottom line for Northern Negros without JVA, electricity consumers continue to experience frequent and longer brownouts, high system loss. and higher electricity rates. With JVA, high reliability, modern services and more local jobs. The same excellent service experience CENECO consumers got when NEPC took over the operations in central Negros, the statement said.
Most of the electric cooperatives in the country continue to face insurmountable challenges such as aging infrastructure, rising demand, and limited financial capacity to finance major upgrades that would push them eventually to a Joint Venture Agreement/Partnership with private distribution utilities. Modern substations, upgraded distribution systems, and improved maintenance requires significant investment. A partnership is an example of how private sector participation can be used to rehabilitate struggling electric distribution systems.
ACCESS and the Alliance of Consumers in Northern Negros (ACNN) urged the LGU’s of Northern Negros to evaluate and endorse the proposed JVA/Partnership between NEPC and NONECO subject to consumer safeguards, for the greatest good of the greatest number of electricity consumers in Northern Negros.*
