CANE PONTS: Toboso Mayor Slams Noneco’s Deplorable Service

During an interview at the Provincial Capitol early last week, Toboso Mayor Richard Jaojoco expressed his disappointment with what he referred to as the “inferior services” of Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (NONECO), the sole electric power distribution franchise holder in Northern Negros.

Mayor Jaojoco said consumers are already fed up with the electric cooperative’s (EC) inefficiency. He zeroed in on Noneco’s poor maintenance of its electric distribution facilities, which led to frequent power interruptions in its coverage area of EB Magalona, Victorias, Manapla, Cadiz, Sagay, Escalante, Toboso, Calatrava and San Carlos.

He also pointed out Noneco’s high power rate, which is often the highest in Negros Island. For the month of May, Noneco has the highest rate among the five power distributors in Negros Island. Noneco’s rate was P12.12 per kWh. The rates of the other three ECs were much lower than P12/kWh, while Negros Power posted the lowest rate at P11.38/kWh.

Moreover, the mayor lambasted Noneco’s lack of transparency regarding the holding of election for the representative of the District of Toboso in the Noneco Board of Directors. He added that he already wrote the National Electrification Administration (NEA) regarding this concern, a move which should have been done by Noneco management itself.

Consumers in each local government unit (referred to as a district in EC parlance) are entitled to one representative in the EC Board of Directors. District Elections in all LGUs within an EC’s coverage area are usually conducted every three years. Each representative / director can serve a maximum of three consecutive three-year terms.

During the supposedly merry month of May, it seems Noneco has raised the hackles of Mayor Jaojoco.

His tirade against Noneco started on May 11 when he posted in his personal FB page: “NONECO wala PULOS!” (inutile; useless). The mayor’s exasperation was understandable, because Noneco erroneously billed the municipality of Toboso P164,576.32 representing 12,500 kwh consumption for the billing period March 22 to April 22.

As reflected in Noneco’s erroneous bill, Toboso’s previous kWh meter reading was 21193.00 while the present meter reading was still 21193.00, which means there was zero power consumption from March 22 to April 22.

Noneco immediately corrected the mistake as soon as management learned about it.

On May 15, Mayor Jaojoco again posted in his FB page about Noneco’s shameful consumer relations service: “Cashier sa NONECO sa Toboso pwerti ka SUPLADO!” (Noneco’s cashier at its Toboso Field Office is so snobbish / aloof / discourteous.)

The mayor’s post provided a venue for consumers to vent their terrible personal experiences with the subject employee. One FB user commented that the subject cashier acts as though he owns Noneco, implying that the cashier considers the consumers as “lesser mortals” who unworthy of his time. Noneco re-assigned the employee post-haste.

Apparently not contented with only his FB posts, Mayor Jaojoco shared his frustrations with the Provincial Capitol media last week, allowing his concerns to reach the hundreds of thousands combined listeners, readers and viewers of these media outlets.

It would be tempting to believe that Mayor Jaojoco has been lambasting Noneco because he has a personal ax to grind against the EC. This might be a convenient excuse to downplay the mayor’s complaints, but unfortunately such escapism does not reflect the true state of affairs or the quality (or lack of it) of Noneco’s electric service. First and foremost, Mayor Jaojoco is a consumer of Noneco. Like all consumers, he is affected by the frequent power interruptions, the high power rates, the appalling consumer service and the lack of transparency from Noneco.

Moreover, Mayor Jaojoco is a public official; he is the father figure of Toboso residents and consumers. Apparently, he became so fed up with complaints from his constituents against Noneco’s lackluster performance that he decided to use the platform available to him to bring into the open the ills of Noneco.

Only by bringing the problems out into the open can an honest dialogue occur to address these consumer concerns. However, a dialogue involves at least two parties. It can only occur when there is an exchange of information and ideas between the two sides.

Interestingly, Noneco has not issued any public statement in response to Mayor Jaojoco’s concerns.

Noneco’s silence and inaction imply that either Noneco is so busy working on improving its services, or Noneco does not give a damn about what these “lesser mortals” think.* (BB)