Electric coops decry DOE franchise cancellation maneuvers

The country’s electric cooperatives (ECs) are up in arms against the maneuver of the Department of Energy (DOE) recommending the cancellation of legislative-issued franchises of at least 17 in this league of power industry players.

The DOE admitted the submission of the franchise cancellation proposal, but it said that was eventually withdrawn for further review.

But the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. (PHILRECA) still can’t rest easy on that franchise cancellation threat, which the group claimed was initiated by Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi via an endorsement to Congress and channeled through House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The 17 ECs had been tagged in the correspondence to Congress as “underperforming and financially and technically distressed.”

PHILRECA nevertheless asserted that “this unjust and biased recommendation was done without prior consultation with the concerned electric cooperatives.”

The group added that the endorsement “was done in haste and in the absence of due diligence on the part of the Department of Energy,” and when Cusi realized such blunder, the department was prompted to revoke and recall the franchises’ cancellation proposal.

Given recent turn of events, PHILRECA emphasized that “while we believe that recalling and revoking the original endorsement is the right thing to do, we cannot help but express our sentiments because his actions have already caused significant damage and irreparable negative impression to the ECs.”

Cusi has been in a never-ending tug-of-war with the ECs, as the energy department has been turning out to be a very nonrestrictive ally of investors wanting to encroach in the service areas other power utilities.

Thus, even with the DOE-announced review of the ECs’ performance, the electric cooperatives are incredulous about the process being pursued by the energy department.

“All these claims fall short of what the Secretary has been doing for the past months. Early last year, he has consistently declined restoring the budget cuts to the government’s sitio electrification program,” PHILRECA said.

The group further stressed “the endorsement letter to the House of Representatives and the DOE statement are meant to serve one purpose and one purpose alone: to manipulate the mindset of the public for them to think that the electric cooperatives are not performing well. And with this comes the justification on the entry of private, for-profit and zero-experience corporations.”