Electric coops warned vs improper use of employees’ retirement fund

The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has sternly cautioned the country’s 121 electric cooperatives (ECS) not to be tempted in exploiting the retirement fund of their employees, or in utilizing them as convenient piggy banks ready for embezzlement.

NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda, thus, summoned up the ECS on their compliance with the mandated “submission of Board Resolutions on their employees’ retirement funds,” as prescribed under the memorandums recently issued by the electrification agency.

In upholding the fiduciary responsibilities of the power utilities on safeguarding the retirement fund of their employees, the NEA chief reiterated his warning “against practices which result in the improper use of such funds.”

According to NEA, the directive on prudent management of retirement funds came about because of a recent “anomalous depletion” of the retirement fund of an electric cooperative in Nueva Ecija, that in turn had jeopardized its employees’ hope for a nest egg that they can lean on when they would already reach retirement age.

The electrification agency similarly apprised the ECS on the partnership cemented by NEA with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on provision of assistance to ECS on the establishment of employees’ unions as well as on the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements (CBAS).

The discussion on the retirement fund and other employee-related concerns had been part of the agenda in a summit that was organized by NEA early this month.

That particular event was convened primarily to champion the ‘sharing of best practices’ among ECS – not only on the realm of electrification projects; but also on reinforcing the reliability and efficiency of their distribution networks that must then redound to the benefit of consumers they have been servicing.

Beyond fiscal discipline that the ECS must heed, other concerns discussed during the summit had been those on: fluctuating voltage in the technical systems of the electric cooperatives; targeted rollout of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI); plus more efficient operations of the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system of the power utilities.

Similarly, loan facilities that could be extended to the ECS were fleshed out; and there were also exchange of views on the enhanced integrated computerized planning model (EICPM); as well as on the timing of bidding activities to be carried out by the ECS.