House grants franchise to Negros Electric & Power

The House Committee on legislative franchises gave its nod to a bill seeking to grant Negros Electric and Power Corporation a franchise to maintain an electric power distribution in key localities of Negros Occidental, previously hit by subsequent power outages back in September.

The panel, chaired by Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting, granted approval to PBA Partylist Rep Margarita Nograles' bid to greenlight the House Bill 9310 subject to style and subject to the submission of documents from the Energy Regulatory Commission, National Electrification Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission, Central Negros Electric Cooperative, and Primelectric Holdings Inc.

HB 9310, filed by Negros Occidental Reps. Francisco Benitez and Juliet Marie Ferrer with Abang-Lingkod Partylist Rep. Joseph Paduano, was filed on 25 September in the wake of subsequent massive power outages in various localities in Negros.

Proponents of the bill rally to grant NEPC a franchise to acquire, establish, operate and maintain a distribution system for the conveyance of electric power to end users in the cities of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, Bago, and in the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto—all situated in the province of Negros Occidental—to ensure a continuous and uninterrupted supply of electricity in the franchise area.

CENECO, for 47 years, managed the electrical distribution in the said cities and municipalities.

However, it drew flak due to its poor service, such as power outages and voltage fluctuations, poorly-maintained lines, inadequate infrastructure investment, service delays, overbilling, and unsatisfactory customer relations, among others.

Primelectric Holdings Inc. president Roel Castro told reporters that they would rapidly comply with Congress' directive within the week.

NEPC's franchise should be fully approved by Congress and will provide relief to Negros residents from CENECO's service problems, which highlights the critical need for better electric services in the area, according to Castro.

"The electric service is not really that good; they have frequent brownouts, and when I say 'frequent', it's normal to say that it's daily. It takes them months to comply when you apply for a new connection," Castro said.

Further, he explained that there are many complaints, and over and above that, CENECO's system loss is already beyond the cap.

"And when the systems loss is above the cap, it means that it is being passed on to the bottomline consumers, and CENECO is already losing P20 to P30 million a month," Castro stressed.

CENECO's current franchise runs until 2030.

It has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement with Primelectric Holdings Inc., a More Electric and Power Corporation subsidiary, an Iloilo City-based distribution utility to provide better service.

NEPC, a firm established via JVA, is presently petitioning Congress to grant them a franchise.

In the proposed arrangement, CENECO will maintain a 30% ownership stake in the new business, while Primelectric will acquire 70% of its assets.