Amlig Kuryente to CENECO: How did you arrived at the P10.74/KwH rate?

Amlig Kuryente convenors former Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr. and Christian Weber questioned the decision of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. Board of Directors (CENECO-BOD) and Management to contract an “Emergency Power Supply Agreement” (E-PSA) of 40-megawatt high bid price at P10.74/KwH offered by Palm Concepcion Power Corp. and rejected at least five (5) probable “lower prices” for CENECO members-consumers-owners to enjoy.

Gamboa said, “What is so special about Palm Concepcion to the CENECO-BOD and Management, one of the highest bidders in last year’s Competitive Selection Process (CSP), for being the most favored while the ‘lowest bid prices’ were outrightly rejected?”

This was said in a press conference conducted by Amlig Kuryente last September 8, 2022 at the Negros Press Club to report on the initial signatories gathered for the letter-petition to investigate and prosecute criminally the CENECO BOD and Management for signing illegal extensions and an illegal contract and the consequent high cost of electricity, unexplained brownouts, among others.

Said letter-petition, signed by all sectors under the CENECO Franchise Area, will be sent to the Office of the Philippine President, Senate, Department of Energy (DOE), Office of the Bacolod City Mayor and the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).

The CENECO-BOD and Management rejected the five (5) probable lower price options, these are, the winning CSP bid price of P3.29/KwH dubbed “original sin” for causing the present series of meteoric increases of CENECO monthly electricity rates, secondly, the National Power Corp.- Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (NPC-PSALM) Time of Use Rate (TOU) which was P3.70/KwH.

Gamboa likewise cited that, thirdly, among those rejected also was the P5.77/KwH which is the “lowest” approved Energy Regulatory Commission Tariff (ERC Tariff) in the Visayas Area, an amount provided by DOE Circular 002018-02-0003 on its CSP Policy which specifically read that “emergency power procurement” shall not exceed said ERC Tariff.

He explained, that fourthly, “They could have at least contracted with the recent Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rate of P9.42/KwH, the other rejected lower price rate compared to the E-PSA of P10.74/KwH.

Gamboa stressed, that, “Finally, the fifth rejection, the CENECO-BOD and Management could have paid-off and settled the P5.42/KwH latest Power Supply Agreement (PSA) with KEPCO-SALCON Power Corp. (KSP), which was the subject of the ‘default’. For the interest of the impoverished CENECO members-consumers-owners, this KSP P5.42/KwH is much, much lower than the E-PSA with Palm Concepcion’s P10.74/KwH.”

He also stressed that if the CENECO-BOD and Management claimed that all contracts, all actions, all decisions are all legal then all the necessary documents be made available for all members-consumers-owners and reiterated that the misery of the CENECO members-consumers-owners started when the CENECO-BOD rejected this P3.29/KwH winning CSP bid price last year thereby causing all succeeding actions and decision as “falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus” – false in one thing, false in everything.*