Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia, representing the City of Bacolod, is filing today an opposition to the application of Central Negros Electric Cooperative to collect from its consumers under-recoveries from 2004 to 2011 totaling P414.6 million.

CENECO has filed an application for approval of over/under-recoveries in the implementation of automatic cost adjustments and true-up mechanisms under ERC Resolution No. 16, Series of 2009, as amended by Resolution No. 21, Series of 2010 on March 26.

ERC has set for juridical hearing the application of CENECO today, at the ERC hearing room at the Pacific Center Building in Pasig.

Leonardia, in his opposition, said the approval of the application and the implementation of the under-recovery totaling P414,668,418.35 “is anti-consumer, unconscionable and unreasonable.”

He asked ERC to order CENECO to conduct consultations with consumer members and explain the purpose, reason and effect of the application for under-recovery of P414.6 million, and explain the details of its composition, and how much is the over/under recovery for every year from 2004 to 2011.

Leonardia also asked ERC to suspend the hearing of the case until CENECO complies with his requests, and to transfer the venue from Pasig City to Bacolod.

He said CENECO consumers are estimated at about 140,000, and 70 to 80 percent are in Bacolod City. These are residential and commercial ones, he said.

Leonardia also said it is the thrust of the Aquino administration to deliver the government to the people, so the ERC can give spirit to this by conducting the hearing of the case in Bacolod City.

Vicente Petierre III, acting Permits and Licensing Division head, yesterday said they received the notice of the ERC only last March 28 so he will personally submit the mayor's opposition to ERC today, together with City Agriculturist Goldwyn Nifras.

Petierre said CENECO filed its application on March 26 because all electric cooperatives who want to recover their under-recoveries were given only until March 31 to do so.

CASIÑO, TOO

Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Teddy Casiño, in his letter to ERC chairperson Zenaida Cruz-Ducut on April 24, 2012, also asked the ERC to postpone the hearing of the application of CENECO and to transfer the venue to Bacolod City, so consumers can participate

CENECO president Arnel Lapore said the opposition of the city is a welcome development and the purpose of their publication is for all the stakeholders to be able to file their opposition, comment or rejoinder, to the ERC.

Lapore said they only followed the template of the ERC and complied with its order to file an application along with other electric cooperatives in the country, or they will waive their right to do so.

AGREEMENT WITH KEPCO

Meanwhile, CENECO general manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. said that in October 2010, CENECO and KEPCO SPC inked an agreement where the latter will supply the electric cooperative the commissioning power at the rate of P1.5905 per kilowatt hour pending ERC evaluation and approval.

In its recent ruling, the ERC approved the commissioning power sales contract rate at P2.879/kwh, Lagarde said. KSPC therefore, is entitled to collect a billing differential of P1.2824/kwh from October 2010 to February 2011, he said.

Lagarde also said that, with the ERC decision, KEPCO is authorized to recover from CENECO the billing differential on the CPSC amounting to P0.66/kwh, or a total of P31,161,233.08.

To cushion the impact on the member-consumers, he said, the CENECO Board passed a resolution requesting KEPCO and ERC to extend the recovery period from one month at 66 centavos/kwh to one year at 55 centavos/kwh.*CGS

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