NEA to take over Basilan power co-op

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced yesterday that the National Electrification Administration (NEA) will take over the management of the Basilan Electric Cooperative (Baselco) effective June 13, 2002.

Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez said the takeover was an offshoot of a meeting between NEA and the National Power Corp. (Napocor) last June 4.

Perez said that after a series of meetings, the NEA, Napocor and Baselco, signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) detailing the Baselco takeover.

Based on Napocor records, Baselco owes the state-owned power firm P332 million, and because of this, Napocor was forced to serve disconnection notices to Baselco, but the electric cooperative repeatedly asked for a restructuring of its debts to Napocor.

The P332-million debts represent Baselco’s current account due of P4.44 million, overdue account of P125.6 million and restructured debt of P202.1 million.

Baselco also owes NEA about P408 million as of end-December 2001. Its system loss, which is the amount of electricity loss from pilferage and technical constraints, has reached 24.05 percent, way above the 14 percent required on cooperatives.

Last April 17, 2002, the Office of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of the City of Isabela passed Resolution No. 02-1146 recommending NEA’s takeover of the management of Baselco in order to save the cooperative from bankruptcy and to protect the interest of its member-consumers.

Perez said that Napocor has other obligations and financial problems to contend with and it was just proper that Baselco should settle their full obligations to the state-run power firm.

Isabela and six municipalities of Basilan have been suffering from daily brownouts for the last two months due to the insufficient power supply coming from Baselco.

The average peak load of Baselco is almost six megawatt (MW). However, its actual capability is only for four MW, thus operating on a sectional delivery of electric service.

"We have to exercise available options to ensure that the people of Isabela and Basilan get efficient and reliable power service," Perez said.

Aside from Baselco, the NEA also took over the management of the Aklan Electric Cooperative (Akelco) which supplies power to the tourist island of Boracay.