LUMIWANAG ang pag-asa ng mga taga-Negros makaraan ang preliminary approval ng House Committee on Legislative Franchises sa House Bill 9310, na nagbibigay ng prangkisa sa Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC).

Sa pamamagitan ng NEPC, magiging maayos ang electric power distribution system sa key cities kabilang ang Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, at Bago, maging sa mga munisipalidad ng Murcia at Don Salvador Benedicto—pawang nasasakop ng probinsya ng Negros Occidental—at matitiyak ang tuloy-tuloy at walang patid na supply ng kuryente sa mga nabanggit na lugar.

Sa ginanap na hearing na pinamunuan ni Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting, pinangunahan ni PBA Partylist Rep Margarita Nograles ang pag-apruba sa bill, “subject to style and subject to the submission of documents that are being asked from the Energy Regulatory Commission, National Electrification Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission, Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO), and Primelectric Holdings Inc.”

Ipinahayag naman ni Primelectric Holdings Inc. President Roel Castro, susundin at isusumite nila ang mga kinakailangang dokumento sa loob ng isang linggo.

Binigyang diin ni Castro ang potential advantages at gains ng mga residente sa sandaling maaprubahan ang kanilang prangkisa. Ngayong may kinakaharap na mga isyu ang CENECO consumers, mas higit na kailangan ang maayos na electric services sa rehiyon.

“The electric service is not really that good; they have frequent brownouts, and when I say ‘frequent’, it’s normal to say that it’s daily. It takes them months to comply when you apply for a new connection. There’s a lot of complaints, and over and above that, their system loss is already beyond the cap. And when the system’s loss is above the cap, it means that it is being passed on to the bottomline consumers, and CENECO is already losing P20 to P30 million a month,” paliwanag ni Castro.

Nasa 48 taon na ang CENECO at sa current franchise nito, may nalalabi pa itong 7 taon o hanggang 2030. At upang mapaganda ang serbisyo nito, pumasok ito sa Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) sa Primelectric Holdings Inc., na subsidiary ng More Electric and Power Corporation, na distribution utility na nago-operate sa Iloilo City.

NEPC ang kompanyang nabuo sa JVA at ngayon ay humihingi ng franchise approval sa Kongreso. Sa ilalim nito, 30% ng ownership ay mananatili sa CENECO, habang sa Primelectric ang 70% ng assets.

Kumpiyansa si Castro na base sa success ng NEPC sa Iloilo, magkakaroon ng malaking pagbabago sa Bacolod at Central Negros.

“With all confidence, I am saying that because we were able to do that in Iloilo. In the last three years, we were able to bring down systems loss to only 5%. We also curtailed the duration of interruptions by over 90%. In terms of rates, our rate is the lowest within the region.

The number of customers increased from 62,000 when we started, and now it’s 93,000 over three years.

I would say that the approach to rehabilitate and make a turnaround is something we have done in Iloilo, and now we aim to do the same in Negros.”

Ayon pa kay Castro, ang biggest contributor sa improvement ng Iloilo ay ang pagbuhos ng pondo sa Capital Expenditures.

“The investment, combined with the approach, is something that we are confident we can replicate in Bacolod and in Central Negros if given a chance by Congress to have a franchise.”

Positibo rin si Castro na maaaprubahan ng Kongreso ang prangkisa lalo’t ang authors ng bill ay mismong sina Negrense Representatives Joseph Stephen Paduano, Francisco Benitez, at Juliet Marie de Leon Ferrer.

“They have witnessed the stark contrast between CENECO’s services and More Power’s performance in Iloilo. Notably, Congressman Paduano was initially against granting More Power a franchise when we applied five years ago but has since changed his position after witnessing the remarkable improvements in Iloilo,” giit ni Castro.

Idinagdag niya, suportado rin sila ng local officials kabilang ang mayors at council members na gusto ng improvement sa electric services sa probinsya.

Tiniyak din ni Castro ang “improve response time for emergencies.” Sa kasalukuyan, inaabot ang CENECO ng 90 minutes hanggang 2 hours para makapagresponde, habang ang More Power sa Iloilo ay 15 minuto lang– na pipilitin nilang tapatan sa Negros.