NEA lauds Nueva Ecija power co-op for prompt payment

Business Mirror

Published on Thursday, 18 October 2012 18:52

Written by Paul Anthony A. Isla / Reporter

THE state-run National Electrification Administration (NEA) said on Wednesday the Nueva Ecija II-Area 1 Electric Cooperative (Neeco II-Area 1) has been transformed into a paying cooperative from being a delinquent payer in the past.

The NEA said it has received Neeco II-Area 1’s advance payment for its P50-million restructured loan last month.

The NEA said Neeco II-Area 1’s loan amounts to P184.614 million, which was granted in September 2004, with a 12-percent interest payable in 15 years.

For eight years NEA said Neeco II-Area 1 has improved in its payment performance from arrears status to current.

“If the co-op continues to pay based on the existing Equal Quarterly Amortization, the repayment period will be shortened to 2016 instead of 2019 and P44 million will be generated as savings on interest on loans with NEA,” it added.

NEA said Neeco II-Area 1 is also current in its power accounts payments with its generating company, San Miguel Energy Corp., with which the electric cooperative has an outstanding contract until 2013.

Edita Bueno, NEA administrator, said the good performance of electric cooperatives, like Neeco II-Area 1, gives NEA the confidence to connect them to other government agencies in order to solicit the needed support and to fully implement the government’s Rural Electrification Program. 

For two consecutive performance years (2010-2011), NEA said it has given citations to Neeco II–Area 1 for its financial performance and for paying the highest amortization payment to NEA.

Neeco II-Area 1 has consistently improved its categorization status from E in 1997-2003, to D in 2004, C in 2005, B in 2006, A in 2007 to A+ in 2009. It has since sustained this status.

NEA categorizes and classifies its supervised electric cooperatives as basis for the upward and downward implementation of per diems and allowances of these electric cooperatives.

The Enhanced Categorization Criteria, issued on July 19, 2011, was applied in the evaluation of the electric cooperatives’ 2011 performance with innovation on sitio energization criterion, which is in support of the government’s priority thrust, the Sitio Electrification Program.

The other criteria include amortization payment, system loss, collection efficiency, payment to power suppliers and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, non-power cost, and result of financial operation.

Neeco II-Area 1. based in Talavera, Nueva Ecija, covers 10 municipalities of the province and serves about 99,518 consumer-connections.   source