Power Advisory and Consultative Council Creation Pushed

The creation of a Power Advisory and Consultative Council (PACC) is being pushed for Negros Occidental.

General Alliance of Workers Organizations (GAWA) Secretary- General and Power Watch Negros head Wennie G. Sancho told NDB that PACC will play a vital role not only on energy and power but will also assist concerns of consumers and those in the power sector.

Sancho said that Power Watch Negros, in coordination with the big labor groups in Negros Occidental composed of NACUSIP, GAWA, CIO and PACIWU (NGCP), will push for the creation of PACC “which will serve as an operating mechanism in cities and municipalities in the province of Negros Occidental.”

He said that representatives of PACC will come from the workers and consumers sector, represetatives from the management of electric cooperatives (ECs) and the local government.

Meanwhile, Sancho, in a statement, noted the following specifics on issues and concerns which, he said, will be given priorities by the PACC:

1. The workers’ security of tenure and economic status in the ECs amid the pandemic;
2. The capacity of the worker-consumer to pay their monthly electric bills due to the reduction of their income with the implementation of the flexible working arrangement scheme;
3. The perennial problem of escalating electrity rates and power outages;
4. The adverse effect of massive unemployment on the workers of EC’s;
5. The policy-direction of EC’s on the issue of monopoly and privatization of the power industry.
PACC is a coordinated effort of the labor sector, he added.*