BACOLOD City – Power Watch Negros (PWN) lambasted the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) for giving out an alleged early Christmas bonus of P15,000 to each of its employees.
In a press statement released by its secretary general Wennie Sancho on Oct. 3, PWN claimed that the day after the 44th Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA) of Ceneco, “They congratulated and awarded themselves by releasing P15,000 for each.
Sancho added that this was just half of the P30,000 total bonus.
“What a contrast!” he said, adding that while consumers are coughing up from excessive electricity rates, Ceneco personnel are full and plenty.
But the Ceneco management belied this. Acting general manager Ervin Stan Leo Ticar clarified, “It is not an early Christmas bonus, as alleged by Sancho, but part of the categorization bonus.”
He explained that the P15,000 bonus given to employees and the Board of Directors (BOD) was part of the windfall for employees and officers of electric cooperatives (EC) all over the country for having attained Triple A categorization.
This bonus should have been given in August yet, but the electric cooperative prioritized payment of its accounts to suppliers, especially its power providers, Ticar said.
He stressed that funds for the bonus came from the Distribution, Metering and Supply charges of P1.18 per kilowatt hour that go to the cooperative for its administrative and operational expenses.
“It is not part of the rates being passed on to consumers,” Ticar stressed, adding that this is also part of the previously-approved Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) benefits.
He said that each year, the National Electrification Administration assesses the electric cooperative’s previous year’s performance based on technical, financial and institutional parameters.
The Triple A categorization is the highest rating given to electric cooperatives with exemplary performance, or at least 95 percent overall rating.
While there are some ECs who are giving categorization bonus equivalent to one-month pay, Ceneco grants a specific across-the-board amount if it maintains its Triple A categorization. This is also part of the previously-approved CBA benefits./PN
