The Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (Nordeco) formerly the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco) has found an ally with the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (PHILRECA) Inc, which opposed the granting of the franchise to the private power firms.
This is about the granting of the congressional franchise to the Aboitiz-owned Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC), which will expand its operation to six towns and two cities in Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro provinces under Nordeco.
Last January 24, 2022, Congress approved House Bill 10554 before the 18th Congress would remove the municipalities of New Corella, Asuncion, Talaingod, Kapalong, and San Isidro, the cities of Tagum and Samal in Davao del Norte, and the municipality of Maco in Davao de Oro from the franchise coverage area of Nordeco.
PHILRECA Executive Director Atty. Janeene Depay-Colingan said in a virtual presser dubbed “Continuing Challenges and Threats Against Electric Cooperatives and other Pressing Concerns in the Energy Sector” that the franchise of some ECs is now being threatened as several power corporations that include MORE Electric and Power Corporation, Bicol Light and Power Corporation, Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) filed their applications for franchise or expansion of the franchise in the ECs’ areas.
Colingan said electric cooperatives (ECs) are being targeted because of the issuance of Executive Order 156 series of 2021 or “Instituting Measures to Ensure Consistent and Reliable Electricity Service in Inadequately Served Areas, Improve Performance of Ineffective Distribution Utilities, and Achieve Total Electrification of the Country”, where the power to take over ailing or underperforming electric cooperatives was transferred from the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to the Office of the President.
“We want to protect the future of electric cooperatives because our history has shown that our ECs have been instrumental to economic development. We want to make sure that the member-consumer-owners will be protected from incompetent heads of some government regulatory agencies,” she said.
Colingan added that electricity consumers are in the middle of many issues surrounding the power sector from the direct impact of fuel price hikes to the losses of the government.
“Access to electricity is considered as a universal commodity and a basic necessity in life. It is an important tool that contributes to the development of a community to national development. At the onset of the rural electrification program, NEA has provided legal, technical, institutional, and financial assistance to the Electric Cooperatives which in turn undertake power distribution on an area coverage basis. ECs have been organized as private, non-stock, non-profit, non-political entities owned and operated by the consumers they serve,” she said.
