The Bacolod City Council has approved a resolution requesting Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC) to furnish the City Council with their proposed plan and actions relative to the frequent and unscheduled power outages that Central Negros Election Cooperative (Ceneco) is currently experiencing.
The City Council also asked the NEPC to submit their course of action to mitigate the same before they take over the management this August 2024.
The resolution was authored by Councilor Claudio Puentevella, chairperson of the City Council Committee on Energy and Public Utilities.
Puentevella said Bacolod resident consumers of Ceneco had experienced numerous instances of power interruption for the past weeks.
“ That in several instances, most power interruptions are unscheduled which causes inconvenience to the resident consumers,” he said.
He added that frequent power interruption causes economic disruption, which can affect business productivity in the City of Bacolod.
Puentevella noted that in an interview, Ceneco’s General Manager Atty. Arnel Lapore explained that Ceneco’s problems can be solved through the joint venture agreement with NEPC, which involves P2.1 billion in infrastructure and facilities once they take over.
” We asked NEPC to submit their proposed plan of action on how to address the causes of the frequent power interruption, whether scheduled or unscheduled, and also to provide a written report on what is the course of action taken to mitigate or the rectify the same,” Puentevella said.
He said on June 3, 2023, a Joint Venture Agreement was entered into by Prime Electric Holdings Inc., a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, duly represented by its President and chief executive officer Roel Castro and Ceneco, and on November 13, 2023, National Electric Administration (NEA) has granted its conditional consent to the proposed joint venture agreement between NEPC and Ceneco.
Puentevella said Section 9 of Article 16 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that the State shall protect consumers from trade malpractices and substandard or hazardous products.
He said Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 also provides that the Local Government Units shall exercise the powers expressly granted, those necessarily implied therefrom, as well as powers necessary, appropriate, or incidental for its efficient and effective governance, and those which are essential to the promotion of the general welfare.
” Public utilities are privately or publicly owned and operated businesses whose services are essential to the general public. They are enterprises which specially cater to the needs of the public and conduce to their comfort and convenience. As such, public utility services are impressed with public interest and concern,” he added./MAP.
