Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi ordered the auditing of 17 cooperatives, five of which are in Mindanao, just over two years ago for consistently failing to deliver improved services to their customers.
Cusi promised that the audit would be fair to the cooperatives, but he also warned that those in grave situations would face penalties.
The Basilan Electric Cooperative, Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco, now North Davao Electric Cooperative or Nordeco), Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative, Zamboanga Electric Cooperative (Zamelco) and Sulu Electric Cooperative were among the electric cooperatives audited in Mindanao.
Cusi’s actions enraged the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association, which said Cusi had a “preconceived view of inefficient administration, corruption, unwarranted government meddling, as well as institutional conflicts among ECs, based on his previous remarks”. Cusi was nonetheless asked by the association to conduct the investigation in a fair manner.
In the instance of Nordeco, Mario Angelo Sotto, the head of President Duterte’s handpicked team, told Newsline that the cooperative’s performance has improved since the takeover. However, the cooperative was warned by the Energy Regulatory Commission for failing to comply with reportorial obligations, particularly when it attempted to obtain the commission’s permission for a supply contract late last year.
However, Nordeco’s noncompliance with the reportorial requirement is not unique; other electric cooperatives have also been accused of doing so. Last year, the government announced that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp., the government company formed after the passage of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, would collect over P95.42 billion from power companies and electric cooperatives that they owned.
PSALM is in charge of the government’s remaining electricity assets, which the Epira has ordered the government to privatize due to large losses in operating them. In addition, the same law was expected to kick off the country’s wholesale power market, particularly in Mindanao, where the majority of distribution utilities are electric cooperatives.
Despite its seeming ineptness, Nordeco is still beset by technological issues, as customers continue to express their dissatisfaction. How else would Nordeco be able to keep up with the existing lack of technical know-how compared to the local market or customer expectations, whatever happened to the wholesale electricity market, which the administration wants to see flourish?
