THE ROAD to betterment of the power distribution service in Bacolod City and central Negros is yet to commence.
The Senate on May 20 approved the adopted House Bill (HB) No. 9805 on third and final reading.
This means both Senate and House of Representatives have greenlit the Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC) to serve as new power distributor in Bacolod and the central portion of Negros Occidental.
What’s next? The official transmittal of the NEPC Bill to Malacañang for President Bongbong Marcos Jr.’s signature to finally become a law. Give at least 30 days allowance for the President to do.
Then, the signed law will travel to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessities (CPNC) as a final pass for NEPC to start everything.
But while waiting for the CPNC,NEPC is already allowed to move for whatever it wants to improve in CENECO, said Atty. Lapore, general manager of CENECO.
SAME PIE
Everybody is now excited for NEPC, a “baby” of the 25-year joint venture agreement between CENECO and Primelectric Holdings, Inc.(PHI).
NEPC is a sister company of MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) in Iloilo City and both belong to the Enrique K. Razon-led business conglomerate.
Since MORE is doing well in Iloilo City for five years now, Bacolodnons and Negrosanons are expecting “the best” to happen, particularly with the distasteful power rate increases now, which this month of May plays at an average of P3 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
But MORE Power and NEPC president Roel Castro was quick to parry such a “wild imagination-cum-expectation” tagging NEPC like a “messiah” ready to land on Earth to save Bacolod and Negros consumers from the bondage of spiraling power rates.
There will be no “magic” from NEPC that may cause a sudden rate reduction on CENECO billing, Castro told the Bacolod media in a press briefing on Tuesday, May 22.
“All power distributors in the Visayas – public and private – are having the same pie as to their power sources,” Castro said, adding, “So, don’t expect a stark difference when it comes to power rates.”
Everything is increasing and we all get from the same pie so the joint venture between CENECO and Primelectric Holdings Inc.(PHI) = NEPC is not exempted from the current power pricing trend, Castro said.
VAT-FREE
Finding a solution, Lapore said 10 electric cooperatives in Western Visayas plus MORE Power will ask President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to exempt the May power rate hike from the 12% value-added tax (VAT).
Lapore disclosed he had already drafted a resolution of the appeal to be sent to the Office of the President (OPS) once it is signed by his fellow electric coop general managers during their meeting in Iloilo City on May 27.
Though the average increase of P3 kilowatt-hour is only confined in Iloilo and Negros Occidental, the more than P1/kWh power rate in Aklan, Capiz, Antique and Guimaras is still burdensome for ordinary consumers, Lapore said.
Stressing, too, that it is beyond their control since the generation charge is a pass-through cost, Lapore said, “We really need to act. We need to help our consumers. The President is our last stop.”
With this, Lapore said, they believed that the best government intervention on the matter is for President to order an immediate removal of a 12% VAT from the May rate hike only.
“We cannot demand for the 12% VAT removal all the way to the entire power rate because it’s bad for government having no taxes to be collected at all. What we will be asking for from the President is to declare the newest power rate increase to be VAT-free,” he said.
This, as Lapore stressed the unprecedented May increase in electricity billing was result of an “abnormal condition” brought about by the sweltering weather due to El Niño phenomenon. Hence, the government should also have something to offer as a potent share to unburden power consumers, he added.
Conforming with Lapore’s contention is Vic Alvaro, project supervisor of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for CENECO.
Alvaro said “CENECO’s case is not unique. It’s happening around the country thus government intervention is badly needed now.”
MATERIAL STRESS
Hearing from the trio – Castro, Lapore and Alvaro – it is safe to conclude that even the power issue now is being complicated by a force majeure – the unexpected wrath of El Niño phenomenon.
Not just humans or the flora and fauna are affected; there’s also this one term that the trio mentioned as the worse effect of the spiking temperatures – “material stress”.
A reading from www.xometry.com led me to understand that “material stress” is defined as the force per unit area that acts on a material. It refers to how different materials behave under a variety of loading conditions.
New and unique to know, but still related how the abnormal weather conditions now affect everyone of us and anything that surrounds us. And on power issue, nothing’s exempted – rich and poor.
Hence, Castro’s right. What he can promise for now on behalf of NEPC are the two Es – effective and efficient service that will propel CENECO to be the “next best” power distributor in the country.
But as to the “magic”, he’s loud in saying he can’t amid the rising power rates caused by “super init”./PN
