BACOLOD City – The Social Action Center (SAC) of the Diocese of Bacolod will appeal to put on hold the collection of Central Negros Electric Cooperative’s (Ceneco) P0.0817 per-kilowatt-hour additional monthly charge.
SAC’s legal counsel Vicente Petierre III yesterday said they will file a motion for pendency before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) next week.
In September last year, the ERC approved the joint application of Ceneco and Kepco-Salcon Power Corp. for a load factor-based pricing scheme on the monthly reconciliation of an unpaid amount worth over P232 million under their supplemental agreement on June 27 that year.
Ceneco may charge its member-consumers the additional monthly fee for 50 months until its unpaid contract quantity with Kepco-Salcon is recovered, the ERC said.
But SAC’s Father Chris Gonzales filed a motion for reconsideration against the ERC decision in October last year.
Ceneco’s Board of Directors then asked the management to suspend the collection of additional fee until the ERC decides on SAC’s motion.
But last week, the SAC learned that Ceneco started collecting the charge in the April billing even if the ERC has yet to resolve a motion against it.
Gonzales said Ceneco cannot charge the consumers the additional amount just yet.
In response to a query from Ceneco general manager Sulpicio Lagarde, ERC chairwoman and chief executive officer Agnes Devanadera said in a letter that the power cooperative can carry out the September 2017 ERC decision.
Petierre has a copy of the letter dated Feb. 12. But he insisted that Devanadera was merely expressing an opinion, not giving an order./PN
