Noy hails power co-op in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines - Despite undergoing severe power outages this summer, Mindano kept its biggest electric cooperative among the ranks of the nation’s efficient power companies as it succeeded in energizing all 204 barangays in its service area while keeping systems losses below industry average.

President Aquino noted that the South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (Socoteco II), also the second-largest electric coop in the country, maintained a proactive strategy that ensured efficient service to its consumers despite challenges posed by an acute supply situation in Mindanao.

In a congratulatory message to mark the cooperative as it held its 31st annual general assembly recently, Aquino commended Socoteco II “for helping illuminate our straight and righteous path towards a brighter tomorrow” while Almendras lauded Socoteco II “for energizing 100 percent of the nine towns, one city, and 24 barangays in its area ... while keeping system losses at an average of only 10.99 percent.”

Energy Secretary Rene D. Almendras and National Electrification Administration head Edita S.Bueno joined other national, local government, and community leaders in citing Socoteco II for its timely efforts to alleviate the power shortage situation in South Central Mindanao. Socoteco II has a service area with a population of more than a million in General Santos City, the entire province of Sarangani, and the towns of Polomolok and Tupi in South Cotabato.

Socoteco II general manager Rodolfo G. Ocat reported during the annual general assembly that the cooperative’s management aggressively pursued new sources of electricity supply after Mindanao experienced half-day power outages in the summer of 2010 due to the El Nino phenomenon that depleted water levels in the the hydroelectric dams that supply more than half of Mindanao’s electricity. Socoteco II, for its part, experienced daily power outages averaging nine hours from March to April 2010.