The management of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative said Thursday, Oct. 6, that the P15,000 bonus given to employees and the Board recently is part of the windfall for employees and officers of electric cooperatives (EC) all over the country for having attained a Triple A Categorization.
“It is not an early Christmas bonus, as alleged by Wennie Sancho of Power Watch Negros…but part of the categorization bonus,” Ceneco acting general manager Ervin Stan Leo Ticar said in a statement.
This bonus should have been given August 2022 but Ceneco prioritized the payment of its accounts to suppliers, especially its power providers, Ticar added.
He stressed that the funds for the bonus came from the Distribution, Metering and Supply charges of P1.18 per kilowatt hour that go to the cooperative for its administrative and operational expenses.
“It is not part of the rates being passed-on to consumers,” Ticar said. “While there are some ECs who are giving categorization bonus equivalent to one-month pay, Ceneco grants a specific across-the-board amount if it maintains its Triple A categorization. This is also part of the previously-approved Collective Bargaining Agreement benefits.”
He said that each year, the National Electrification Administration assesses the ECs’ previous year performance, based on technical, financial, and institutional parameters.
The Triple A categorization is the highest rating given to electric cooperatives with exemplary performance, or at least 95 percent overall rating. ||
