Baguio’s Smart City Command Center has unpaid electric bills

BAGUIO CITY — The City Government of Baguio has yet to pay the more than P200 thousand bill of the Smart City Command Center (SC3) covering the months of August 2021 to December 2022.

The City Council recently approved a legislative move approving the request for the authority of the chief executive of Baguio so that said amount will be charged to 2023 appropriations of the SC3. The SC3 is being managed by the Information and Technology Division of the City Mayor's Office.

On 13 November of last year, the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) wrote the city government notifying that the city had an electric consumption of P201,304 from August 2021 to December 2022. Because of this, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong send a request letter to the Baguio City Council for the appropriation of the said amount from the current appropriations of the SC3.

The electric consumption was used for the operation of the IoT boxes of the SC3 and air quality monitoring devices installed in different parts of the city.

Based on the certification of the Local Finance Committee, there is a P2,177,48.57 fund for the electricity expenses of the operation of the SC3.

BENECO, on the other hand, has no explanation for why it took a long time to ask the city government to pay for its electric consumption.