Ceneco consumers okay JVA as threshold reached

By Dolly Yasa

Bacolod City – Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) acting general manager Atty. Arnel Lapore said the majority of member-consumers approved the cooperative’s Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with Primelectric Holdings Inc. as manifested in the results of the plebiscite.

“We have reached the threshold,” Lapore told Daily Guardian Sunday.

Lapore said the latest tally of the votes cast in the plebiscite showed that 55.47 percent of the votes are in favor of the JVA with the Enrique Razon-led firm.

The tally superseded the needed 50 percent plus one required for the approval of the JVA.

As of Sunday, 105,490 votes were cast, with 98,591 in favor of the JVA and 6,899 against.

The JVA needed 88,870 yes votes to achieve majority of the 177,737 eligible voters among Ceneco member-consumers.

“We are positive, I think we already reached the threshold. It is good as approved by the member consumers,” he reiterated.

The results will become official if approved by the Ceneco board. After which, the cooperative will report it to the National Electrification Administration (NEA) “for guidance and direction.”

As to the last two days of the plebiscite on September 2-3, 2023, Lapore said it would also depend on the decision of NEA whether to still push through with it or not.

On Saturday, the 5th day of the plebiscite, Lapore said the needed yes votes for the JVA was attained.

Earlier, Lapore justified the JVA as a way to solve Ceneco’s financial woes which include P20 million monthly losses and an P800-million debt.

Most of the losses are attributed to systems loss or electricity lost to technical factors and pilferage or theft.

Primelectric is the parent company of MORE Power, which took over as the sole power distributor in Iloilo City four years ago.

The breakdown of the plebiscite results are:

June 24:

YES – 13,587

NO – 3,748

June 25:

YES – 8,087

NO – 2,319

Aug 19:

YES – 24,641

NO – 284

Aug 20:

YES – 21,247

NO – 250

Aug. 26:

YES – 25,245

NO – 116

Aug. 27:

YES – 5784

NO – 137

Total votes cast as of Aug 27: 105,490

YES – 98,591

NO – 6,899