SO, WHAT’S MORE Power a.k.a. Nong Moroy up to these days leading up to the New Year? A lot, I should say.
There’s the usual rehabilitation and upgrading of “I Am Iloilo City’s” power distribution system, all part of the five-year development plan costing billions of pesos, coupled with excellent customer relation/service.
And then we have the ongoing P96.4-million underground cabling system or Underground Distribution Services (UDS), a first in “I Am Iloilo City” and Region 6.
But there’s more. Recently we had a little chat with Roel Castro, MORE Power’s president / chief executive officer, and here are excerpts from that interesting conversation…
For starters, the MORE Power chief is devoting his energy to answering public clamor for better services. And this can best be achieved by continuously stabilizing the power distribution grid of Iloilo City and laying the foundation of their joint venture agreement (JVA) with the ailing Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) in Negros Occidental.
To recall, Ceneco and Primelectric Holdings, Inc. of businessman Enrique Razon forged the JVA that led to the establishment of the Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC), which incidentally is also headed by Roel Castro, and that’s not a coincidence but a master stroke business wise.
The agreement was signed by both parties middle of 2023 and was ratified by Ceneco consumers during a series of plebiscites from July to August 2023.
And these were the plebiscite results: 98,591 votes, or 55.53 percent, of the 177,737 eligible voters approved the venture, way more than the 88,870-majority threshold.
Under the JVA, NEPC will acquire 70 percent of Ceneco’s assets and will initially invest more than P1.4 billion to improve its distribution services.
The venture will definitely benefit over 200,000 customers in the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Silay, and Talisay; and the towns of Don Salvador Benedicto and Murcia.
Of course, Mr. Roel Castro said his energies were more focused on Iloilo City which is expected, considering that this where MORE Power started and they’ve only been operating for four years. So far under his watch, Iloilo City has an excellent partner for progress and development.
On ‘Le Affair CENECO’
“To put it in proper perspective, our expansion to Bacolod was asked by the consumers so it was not like we just wanted to take over the city. I would like to focus on our commitments here in Iloilo City. The expansion was led by the clamor of the people,” Castro said.
Meanwhile, the relative success of the Ceneco JVA brought to fore MORE Power’s bid to expand its operations to Iloilo province, particularly in the 2nd and 4th districts which are under the service areas of three Iloilo Electric Cooperatives.
MORE Power has succeeded in amending its congressional franchise (Republic Act 11212) to expand its coverage areas.
But there are still some requirements that MORE Power must comply before it can expand to the province.
“This will be the first time in the Philippines that two franchises in an area will compete and Congress wants to see if it will be good or not good. We initially invested P1.5 billion. I would say that initially, it will connect us to 15 areas, but it will still depend on the take up of the demand,” Castro explained.
For now, Castro said they are focusing on Ceneco where they earmarked P4 billion to modernize its system.
“So right now, we are not yet looking for another expansion because we will finish Bacolod first. There is still a long way to go, we still have Congress, we still have ERC, and then there is more before the actual takeover,” he added.
And that is what’s keeping MORE Power president/CEO Roel Castro a.k.a. “Nong Moroy” focused and busy these days./PN
