The rates of Negros Electric and Power Corp. (Negros Power) are in accordance with the certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) granted by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and all regulatory rules and laws, its president and chief executive officer Roel Castro said on Monday, July 14.
Castro issued the statement in response to a resolution authored by Bacolod City Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr., which was approved by the City Council, asking an immediate explanation as to why Negros Power continues to collect the reinvestment fund for sustainable capital expenditures (RFSC) shown in the monthly billings of power consumers.
“We received the official copy of the resolution. Negros Power will address the issues raised by Councilor Gamboa at the right and appropriate time,” Castro said.
The RFSC, created under ERC Resolution No. 20, series of 2009, allows electric cooperatives’ (ECs) to collect capital contributions from their members-consumers to amortize or pay-off debts associated with the expansion, rehabilitation or upgrading of the existing electric power system in accordance with the ERC approved capital expenditure plan.
In the resolution, Gamboa said that Negros Power is not an EC but a private stock corporation registered under the Securities and Exchange Commission and, therefore, the inclusion of the RFSC charge of P0.1518 per kilowatt-hour raises legal and ethical question.
The resolution noted that the inclusion of the RFSC in the consumers’ monthly billings is an item authorized only for ECs under ERC Resolution No. 20, not for Negros Power, which is a private stock corporation.
Gamboa, chairman of the committee on human rights, said access to electric power is a fundamental human right endowed with transparency and accountability and the collection of the RFSC without a corresponding regulatory provision could unduly burden consumers.
Negros Power has been given 10 days from receipt of the resolution to formally respond and clarify the basis of its RFSC collection. ||
