South Cotabato wants to take control of electric co-op

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 17 May) – The provincial government of South Cotabato has expressed interest to take control of an electric cooperative here “to improve its services as well as lower the cost of electricity that’s burdensome to consumers.”

South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr. asked the management of the South Cotabato Electric Cooperative – I (Socoteco-I) to let the provincial government supervise management control of the distribution utility.

“There’s still a lot of wastage (system loss) that makes the price of electricity prohibitive to consumers,” Tamayo said in the vernacular on Monday’s “Governor Meets the Press.” “If they can’t lower the cost, they should give up the management to the provincial government.”

With the provincial government taking control of Socoteco-I, Tamayo vowed to lower in the next few months to P10 per kilowatt hour (kWh) the present P16 per kWh charged by the electric cooperative to consumers.

He said that if the system loss “can be corrected,” the cooperative, if supervision will be under the provincial government, can earn an “income of between P40 to 60 million a month.

The system loss charge was pegged at 1.4069 in March for residential consumers.

Tamayo also criticized the management of Socoteco – I, which is headed by general manager Raffee Edsel Epistola, for the intermittent brownouts suffered by the electric consumers in the past several months.

Epistola could not be contacted for comments.

The governor noted that the high cost of electricity is hampering the entry of investors in the second district of South Cotabato, which forms the bulk of the cooperative’s service area.

South Cotabato’s second district comprises this city and the towns of Tantangan, Banga, Norala, Surallah, Sto. Nino, Lake Sebu and T’boli.

In the past few months, Tamayo said investors from China, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan have expressed their interest to put up factories in the second district, but were allegedly dismayed by the high cost of electricity.

He dangled a public-private partnership with Socoteco-I, with the provincial government taking control of the operations of the electric cooperative.

If the provincial government will be on top of the operations of Socoteco-I, Tamayo said the current management team of the cooperative could still be retained to run the affairs of the non-stock, non-profit cooperative.

Socoteco-I was registered on August 31, 1971 under the provisions of Republic Act 6038 or the National Electrification Administration (NEA) Act. It became the 12th electric cooperative to be registered by NEA. 

On September 5, 1979, a 50-year franchise was granted to Socoteco-I, or until September 5, 2029. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)