“No power shutdown”–CENPELCO
WITH NEW AGREEMENT
SAN CARLOS CITY—The Central Pangasinan Electric Cooperative (Cenpelco) assured its member-consumers that there will be no power shutdown despite the demand letter from its power supplier, the San Miguel Electric Corporation (SMEC) last month.
Engr. Rodrigo Corpuz, general manager of Cenpelco said the cooperative was able to pay the P141-million billing last May 8 prior to its due date scheduled on May 13.
Corpuz said SMEC already informed the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) of the deferment agreement between SMEC and Cenpelco.
“Both parties agreed on deferring the payment for the cooperative’s debts to SMEC amounting to a total of P326 million wherein Cenpelco will pay the amount on a monthly basis along with the monthly electric consumption billing,” said Corpuz citing the salient portion of the agreement.
He said the next due date of their billing with SMEC will be on June 10.
“We assure our consumers that we can pay this amount although we are appealing to them, especially those with delinquent accounts, to pay on time to help our cooperative raise the amount needed to pay the debt,” said Corpuz.
To achieve this objective, Cenpelco will strictly enforce the policy on disconnection: service will be disconnected within 48 hours after the notice has been served.
“We are asking for their cooperation so that our cooperative can pay its monthly dues to SMEC on a monthly basis with the right amount due”, said Corpuz.
Corpuz pointed out that the total amount of collectibles from delinquent accounts is equivalent to a one and a half month total electric consumption of Cenpelco. “We are paying almost P140 million per month for the cooperative’s total electric consumption,” he said.
He also clarified that the cooperative’s debt ballooned when Cenpelco decided to prioritize the restoration of the facilities damaged by Typhoon Cosme in 2008, instead of paying its account to SMEC.
“The cost of restoration amounted to P100 million but this was not passed on to the consumers instead it was derived from the cooperative’s monthly operations”, Corpuz said.
He said the urgent upgrade of the substations made last 2010 and 2011 under the capital expenditure project compounded Cenpelco’s financial woes. (Hilda Austria)
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