Power co-ops face performance review
Credit to Author: JORDEENE B. LAGARE| Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2019 17:05:10 +0000
Electric cooperatives nationwide will undergo a performance review in line with the government’s goal of achieving total electrification by 2020, the Energy department said on Friday, with those failing the audit likely to be stripped of their franchises.
“The review will be an inclusive process,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in a statement.
“We will ask the ECs to identify their main challenges and work with them in determining long-term and sustainable solutions. For transparency purposes, the results of the review will be made available to the public,” he added.
The Energy department claimed that several of the 121 ECs nationwide had failed to carry out their mandates due to inefficient management, corruption, unnecessary political interference and institutional conflicts.
The audit will also look into the rise in missionary subsidies in areas such as Occidental Mindoro, Catanduanes, Marinduque, and Tablas.
The National Electrification Administration (NEA), which supervises ECs across the country, has been told to submit individual technical and financial performance reports for the last five years.
Power co-ops also have to submit plans and strategies for enhancing their services, operations and economic viability over the next three years.
The Energy department said that depending on the findings, task forces could be formed to help underperforming ECs while non-performing ones could lose their licenses.
The department issued the statement as an industry group claimed that Cusi had already recommended that 17 co-ops be stripped of their franchises.
The Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Philreca) said the Energy chief, in a January 11 letter to House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, identified the ECs as the following:
• Abra Electric Cooperative;
• Pampanga III Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Palawan Electric Cooperative;
• Camarines Sur III Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Albay Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Masbate Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative Inc;
• Ticao Island Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Basilan Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Sulu Electric Cooperative Inc.;
• Tawi-tawi Electric Cooperative nc.;
• Maguindanao Electric Cooperative nc.; and
• Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative Inc.
The letter, provided by Philreca to The Manila Times, states that Cusi cited penalty provisons of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 and a NEA report involving “underperforming and financially and technically distressed” power co-ops.
Under the Epira law, only Congress has the authority to grant and/or repeal franchises granted to entities engaged in the transmission and the distribution of electricity, upon recommendation of the Energy department and the Energy Regulatory Commission.
“Such recommendation was made without even giving due process to the electric cooperatives,” Philreca claimed.
“The least that Secretary Cusi could have done, as the Father of the government’s energy family, is to have a consultation with the electric cooperatives and give them a chance to defend their side,” it added.
Philreca said the Energy department should instead prioritize the rehabilitation of troubled power co-ops.
Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella admitted that Cusi had made the recommendation but added that it had been withdrawn.
“The DoE (Department of Energy) sees the need to further evaluate and assess the present status and performance of the 17 electric cooperatives,” Fuentebella told reporters.
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