Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CENECO)

The Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CENECO), one of 119 an electric cooperatives in the Philippines and supervised by the National Electrification Administration. [ [http://www.nea.gov.ph The Official Website of the National Electrification Administration ] ] It was incorporated on February 24, 1975 in Bacolod City, Province of Negros Occidental.

CENECO initially serviced Silay City. On May 16, 1976, it took over the electric system of the Municipality of Murcia. In June 1978, with the help of the national government, CENECO purchased and took over the A. S. Diaz Electric service (ASDES) which served Bacolod city and Talisay. The following year, in June 1979, CENECO took over the Bago Electric system and Ma-ao Electric System in Bago City.

At this time CENECO’s generating units were hard-pressed to keep up with the load demand of its coverage area. CENECO had to resort to load shedding which included scheduled brownouts. The power shortage was relieved with the coming of the Power Barge from the National Power Corporation [http://www.erc.gov.ph] on June 16, 1981. This was stationed along Bacolod’s Reclamation Area Project and augmented CENECO’s electric power supply.

Beginning July 4, 1984, the Palinpinon Geothermal Power Plant (PGPP) started supplying power to CENECO. The PGPP, located in Brgy. Palinpinon not far from Dumaguete City, became the main source of power for Negros Island. It supplied CENECO, VRESCO, NOCECO, NORECO I and NORECO II.

With the power situation stabilized and with the increasing number of members, they clamoured for more representation in the Board of Directors. The General Assembly increased the number of Districts from five (5) to nine (9) Districts in 1998 and the first District Elections to fill up the new set-up were held the following year.

CENECO suffered a major loss in its operations with the coming of Typhoon Ruping in November, 1991. Almost half of CENECO’s electric poles had to be replaced or repaired due to damage. The work was so extensive that normal operation was restored the following year in February.

Other typhoons also contributed their share to the damage and to the losses of the cooperative. Puring in 1994 and Pepang in 1995 caused setbacks to CENECO’s efforts to recover.

On the political front, there was a misunderstanding with the Bacolod City government regarding the cooperative’s tax-exempt status. CENECO was padlocked for non-payment of franchise and other taxes in late 2001, a dispute that was resolved with the intervention of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the National Electrification Administration, which restored the status quo until the Supreme Court reaches a final decision.

The passage of R.A. 9136, otherwise known as the EPIRA 2001 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, has restructured the power situation in the country. This act has, among others, allowed the participation of the Independent Power Producers, the privatization of the National Power Corporation, and required the cooperatives and private distribution utilities to unbundle their power rates.

These are all efforts to improve power services and make the power industry in the Philippines globally competitive.

Like other power distributing utilities, CENECO is aiming to be more member-consumer friendly and technically dependable in the face of growing competition.

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