CONSUMER rights advocacy group Power Watch Negros Advocate (PWNA) has reiterated its call for the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to conduct a performance and technical audit in Central Negros Electric Cooperatives (Ceneco) to ensure contracted capacities are optimized and actually delivered.
Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of PWNA, in a statement on Wednesday, February 22, that in order to eliminate corruption and mismanagement, the books of Ceneco should be open for a comprehensive audit to erase the public perception that this distribution utility (DU) tends to artificially inflate prices in the rates of electricity.
"Power Watch is calling for a complete and substantial overhaul of Ceneco management, especially in the finance division. Managers, supervisors, and confidential employees are receiving exorbitant salaries, fat bonuses, and allowances," he said.
He added that the rank-and-file have substantial wages and benefits that an ordinary worker can only dream of. Ceneco is their gold mine, at the expense of the consumers. This could be one of the reasons why electricity rates remain high.
Sancho noted that the service of bringing appropriate load requirements to every household, industry, and commercial establishment is the function of Ceneco. Thus, reliability, security, and affordability are highly demanded from distribution utilities like Ceneco.
"Unfortunately, the high cost we are paying to Ceneco is not worth the services it is giving," Sancho said.
What is the real state of Ceneco today as a DU? What is the net worth of Ceneco? Are its liabilities greater than its assets? How about Ceneco's arrears in power supply purchases? Is our high system loss a result of financial inefficiencies? Sancho asked.
He said that these are some of the nagging questions that prompted Power Watch to demand a technical and performance audit on Ceneco, including its compliance with the decision made by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to refund millions of pesos for our meter and bill deposits as provided under the Magna Carta for Residential Consumers.
"For a long period of time, Ceneco is more of the same, hounded by corruption, corporate abuse, and outright fraud," he added.
Sancho disclosed that the system losses of Ceneco include technical losses and losses through theft or pilferage. In Negros, it ranges from 11.06 percent to 12.72 percent of their total energy sales in 2017.
Ceneco incurred the most megawatt hour losses, amounting to nearly 100,000 in one year. The system losses amounted to around 9 percent of the total energy bill for the consumers. Thus, it is essential to mitigate these losses, hence the need for a technical audit of Ceneco’s system, which amounted to P170 million last year.*