BAGUIO CITY– National Electrification Administration Administrator Edgardo Masongsong calls on electric cooperatives to help the government ease the cost of living for the Filipino people by working together to lower electricity cost.
Masongsong made the call during the national conference of the Rural Electric Cooperatives Board of Directors Association of the Philippines, Association of the Board of Directors of Electric Cooperatives, and National Center of Electric Cooperative Consumers (NCECCO) held June 19-20 at the Benguet Electric Cooperative office here.
The Administrator stressed the importance of the unity and cooperation of electric coops in lowering the cost of electricity which President Rodrigo Duterte himself appealed for.
Some electric cooperatives in the country have already ventured into power generation ventures such as having their own power plants or going into renewable energy like mini – hydro power plants, he informed. He encouraged other coops to seek funding for the development of renewable energy in their respective franchise areas.
He also disclosed that there is a move to amend the charter of NEA so that aside from monitoring and supervision, it can have the mandate to regulate electric cooperatives so that it can bring in policies or propose legislative actions that will improve the power/electricity industry.
There are 121 electric cooperatives in the country servicing 11.72 million connections or households as of December 31, 2016.
The national convention aims to bring in policy guidelines and to discuss and address issues and concerns to help improve operations of electric cooperatives.
Masongsong shared the move for the establishment of an electric cooperative consumers’ bank where an ordinary people or those in the informal sector can have a savings account where they can save their money even in small denominations.
For NCECCO, a national movement of electric consumers, it is working for the creation of regional/provincial chapters to build up its network maybe even down to the barangay level. **CCD/S. Guarin-PIA CAR/UP Intern
