Kilusang Mayo Uno-Negros yesterday urged Negrenses to unite and oppose the P2 per kilowatt hour increase in Central Negros Electric Cooperative’s procurement of power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market that will affect the July 2012 billing of its consumers.

CENECO Thursday said it was forced to get power from WESM after KEPCO SPC Power Corp. informed them that its Unit 1 is experiencing problems due to afurnace tube leak. It also informed CENECO that there is ongoing maintenance work on Unit 2 that started June 21, and is estimated to end on July 10.

KMU-Negros spokesperson Ronald Ian Evidente said “Ever since power utility business is one of the most profitable sources of profit. Procurement of power from WESM was designed to siphon more profit out of poor consumers.”

He said KMU blames the government for privatizing power utilities by turning over such services to private corporations like KEPCO SPC Power Corp., which aims for more profit than public service.

“Everything is possible under a monopolized industry. Anything can be manipulated for profit,” Evidente said.

 KMU Negros is reiterating its call to the government to nationalize not only the power industry but also the oil industry to prioritize public interest, he said.

Evidente said “Power utilities and Petron must be owned by the government and should not be controlled by private investors aiming for higher profit.” *CGS

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