Power firm assures steady power supply

Sunstar Bacolod 

CENTRAL Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) president Ed Gasambelo assured its consumers of steady power supply.

During its 35th Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA) at the University of St. La Salle Coliseum on Saturday, Gasambelo said the hounding experiences in 2009, like the occurrences of power shortage, load shedding and rationing of power due to insufficiency in power supply from only one power supplier, has prompted Ceneco to enter into co-generation or bilateral contracts, giving the cop the flexibility of having more than just one power supplier.

“So in the event a certain power generator encounters a problem, we can readily secure remedial power from other co-generators,” he said.

In order for the electric cooperatives to have a bargaining chip; Ceneco led the other electric cooperatives in the island in organizing the Negros Power Supply Aggregation Group (NPSAG) where Gasambelo was chosen as the chairman.

The main objective of NPSAG is to form one cohesive group that will influence Independent Power Producers (IPPs) into signing a contract that is most advantageous to their respective coop constituents.

The IPPs now realize that as a group, the electric cooperatives have a bargaining chip. As a group, electric cooperatives can no longer be easily muzzled into accepting a lopsided contract, which is mostly in favor of the supplier, he added.

Ceneco received a special award for its outstanding performance in its operations and distribution system. It also received a special citation for having the Best Financial Performance in 2009.

The electric cooperative now has nine substations with a total installed capacity of 150MVA and 33 feeders serving the entire coverage areas of the cooperative.

Energy demand growth for 2009 is four percent and Ceneco is optimistic that there will be an increase in growth rate from four to six percent this year.

Ceneco’s total member-consumers grew by 35,329 in 2009 from 128,637 in 2008.

Power purchased in 2009 reached approximately to 589,767,000 kwh. Average power cost per kilowatt hour, net of 3 percent power purchased discount, is P4, which is consistent with 2008. Average billing rate per kilowatt hour was P5, likewise consistent with 2008, said Ceneco treasurer Roberto Montelibano. (Teresa ellera-dulla)

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on November 22, 2010.