ELECTRIC cooperatives registered under the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) is offering lower power rates compared to the ECs that were not yet member of CDA.
Luis Manuel Corral, secretary general of the party-list group Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (APEC), said the reduction in the cost of power delivered by CDA-ECs would be 40 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) cheaper.
Corral said the reduction is basically due to the removal of the taxes including E-VAT and other local taxes that were part of the privilege of the ECs that signed up for the CDA.
Under Section 4 Article 132 of Republic Act 9520, or The New Cooperative Code of the Philippines, ECs that registered with the CDA, aside from tax exemptions, will be entitled to "congressional allocations, grants, subsidies and other financial assistance for rural electrification which can be coursed thorugh the Department of Energy, the Authority or local government units."
But Corral admitted that despite this incentives, only 11 out of the 119 ECs are registered with the CDA.
Among the ECs that signed up for CDA are Negros Occidental Electric Cooperatives (Noceco 2); Palawan Electric Cooperative (Paleco); Pangasinan Electric Cooperative 1 and 2 (Panelco); Nueva Vizcaya Electric Cooperative (Nuvelco); Negro Oriental Electric Cooperative (NORECO 2); Abra Electric Cooperative (Abreco), Isabela Electric Cooperative (Iselco); Sorsogon Electric Cooperative (Soreco) and Quirino Electric Cooperative (Quirelco).
These ECs have a total of 1.2 million member consumers.
Corral said there has been an "intimidation, misinformation and miseducation" of electric cooperatives, with the National Electrification Administration allegedly at the forefront, warning utilities that once they sign up for the CDA, they will no longer be allowed to borrow funds from NEA.
However, Judith Alferez of NEA denied the claims of APEC.
Alferez said that while it is true that once ECs signed up for CDA will no longer received any assistance from NEA, they are not preventing the cooperatives if they want to sign up for CDA.
"Hindi naman namin sinasabihan ang mga cooperatives na hindi kayo mag-member dyan. Nakikita naman nila ang benefit ng NEA," the NEA official said.
She also admitted that once the ECs transferred to CDA they can no longer avail of the technical and financial assistance that they are providing to the ECs that remains under their jurisdiction.
ECs that will transfer to CDA will be obliged to settle all obligations on their own, without the chance of having their loans condoned by the National Power Corp. (Napocor), particularly when these debts become too huge for utilities to handle.
But Corral said once they signed up for CDA they will be allowed to borrow directly to local banks and be given flexible terms that would be beneficial to the ECs.
Meanwhile, Corral said they are now encouraging all electric cooperatives to sign up for CDA.
"We're operating at a privatized climate but electric cooperatives are still under a feudal system. We at APEC don't call for the abolishment of the NEA. Rather, it should evolve into a technical and financial agency."
Corral stressed that ECs should be given to the members "so they can be more accountable, more transparent" in operating the utility. (MSN/Sunnex)