NEGROS Occidental Third District Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko said Wednesday, January 16, they will invite representatives from electric cooperatives in Negros Oriental and Iloilo to give them more inputs about the energy situation in the neighboring provinces.

Ko, chair of the Provincial Board (PB) committee on energy, said they aimed to get a clearer outlook about the power situation.

The PB is conducting a series of hearings relative to the proposed ordinance of Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. that there should be no coal fired power plant and any environmentally unsound power generation technologies including fossil fuels in Negros Occidental.

Ko said they conducted hearings where representatives of three electric cooperatives in the province served as resource speakers.

Based on the data they gathered from Central Negros Electric Cooperative, 72 percent of their total power supply is sourced from coal; Northern Negros Electric Cooperative, 70 percent is sourced from coal; Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative, 60 percent of their power supply is also from coal.

"These are all based on the respective contracts entered into by the three electric cooperatives," Ko added.

He also said that before PB will come up with the decision on the proposal of the governor, they are also planning to invite officials of the Department of Energy as the matter concerns the department.

He said their approach on the matter is divided into two components which are the energy concern and the environmental issue. (TDE)