DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Jan. 27 (PIA) -- The Negros Oriental Electric Cooperative (NORECO) II will implement development projects this year to further improve the delivery of services to their Member-Consumer-Owners (MCOs).
NORECO II General Manager Atty. Fe Marie Dicen-Tagle announced in a recent Kapihan sa PIA forum that part of their development projects this year is the establishment of a separate sub-station in Sibulan town.
“Part of our development (is) we will have a new sub-station in Sibulan. It’s a 10-MW capacity already taking into account the improvement of the requirement of Dumaguete, Sibulan, and San Jose. I-unload namo ang naa sa Pulantubig nga ga-serve sa Sibulan (We will unload Pulantubig sub-station that serves Sibulan). Sibulan (sub-station) will serve Sibulan and San Jose,” Tagle said.
In response also to the increasing demand for electricity in Dauin town due to the growing presence of resorts in Dauin town, NORECO II will also upgrade its existing sub-station there from 4.2 MVA to 10 MVA.
As part also of their typhoon Odette rehabilitation efforts and to ensure that electric posts could withstand strong winds or any incidents of calamity, the electric cooperative will intensify the replacement of wooden poles along power corridors.
NORECO II will also be doing reconductoring of distribution lines to strengthen efforts to reduce systems loss of the cooperative.
Tagle cited that the electric cooperative has registered 12.68% systems loss recently, but she assured MCOs that NORECO II will not charge MCOs an additional fee for every systems loss rate that is beyond the cap of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“If the cap is at 10.25 percent, that is the only one that we are passing on as part of the rate. The rest is being assumed by the coop,” Tagle said.
She added that the power distribution firm is eyeing measures to reduce systems rate into single digits so that the rate passed on to MCOs will also decrease.
The NORECO-II official underscored that all these efforts will result to more gains in the government’s rural electrification program.
Tagle cited that rural electrification that is being carried out by an electric cooperative will always ensure power reliability, power quality, and affordability of power and services to consumers which are the core principles of the EPIRA Law.
In a similar development, Tagle announced that the government has granted extension of subsidy of “lifeline” electric consumers for another 30 years.
She explained that the “lifeline” electric consumers are those who belong to the marginalized sector and only consumes 20KW or less electricity.
“Lifeline” electric consumers are given subsidy under the law.
The subsidy was supposed to end in May 2021, but through the efforts of the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (APEC) Partylist in the Congress, the subsidy was extended for another 30 years.
There are about 40,000 “lifeline” electric consumers in NORECO II’s coverage area from Pamplona to Basay. (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)
