‘COOP IN NAME ONLY’: Ileco II’s 3-year capex at minimum of P200M; no dividends since inception

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

The Iloilo Electric Cooperative (Ileco) II sets aside at least P200 million for its capital expenditure every three years to improve its facilities and services.

Engr. Ma. Una Padilla, Technical Services Division head of Ileco II, also confirmed that the cooperative has not given dividends to member-consumers because of its unique classification.

In an interview with Daily Guardian on Air via Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo last April 5, 2024, Padilla said they have focused their plans from rural electrification between 1977 and the 90s to infrastructure development.

“The ongoing projects are in response to the growing demand in our service area, using development plans and data of each town under Ileco II,” she added.

Padilla said that Ileco II has been compliant with several requirements of the Department of Energy (DOE), National Electrification Administration (NEA), and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) when it comes to development planning.

The cooperative’s 3-year plan and capital expenditure (Capex) has a minimum budget of P200 million.

Since 2010, Padilla said they have not increased their rates despite the amount they spend to further improve their facilities.

ILECO II’s plans include the activation of their Lublub Substation in Barotac Nuevo, the uprating of their existing Calinog Substation, and proposed substations at Imbang Pequeño in Passi City and in Lambunao.

The new Lublub Substation is expected to respond to increasing load demand in Barotac Nuevo and Dumangas, while the Calinog Substation uprating is expected to increase their supply from 10 megavolt-amperes (MVA) to 20MVA, and their Imbang Pequeño and Lambunao substations to add up to 25MVA.

ILECO II is also currently negotiating for 10 megawatts (MW) of embedded solar power supply and with the National Irrigation Administration to extract power from its proposed 6MW power plant within the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project II (JRMP II) system.

This is in addition to the current installation of 69 kilovolts of sub-transmission lines from Dingle to Calinog, Dingle to Dumangas (via Pototan), and from Pototan to Janiuay.

With their peak demand at 47 megawatts in a 55-MW installed capacity of its facilities, Padilla said their current works could expand their capacity to 100 MW.

NO DIVIDEND

Under Philippine laws, cooperatives are supposed to shell out dividends to their members.

But that is not the case for Ileco II and most of electric cooperatives in the country.

Padilla confirmed that since its inception in the 70s, Ileco II has not released dividends to consumers because it is a cooperative in name only.

“Ileco II has a special situation because we have not registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). Apart from the membership fee of P5, we have no capital buildup as required of CDA-registered cooperatives. Thus, we cannot give their dividends since we are just a cooperative in name only,” she added.

In a referendum 5 years ago, Ileco II consumers decided to stick with NEA instead of CDA registration. But the cooperative is again asking its member-consumers if they want to become a genuine cooperative, Padilla said.

The caveat is that Ileco II will lose its subsidy from NEA, which supervises electric cooperatives, should it register with the CDA.

“That subsidy actually useful in some key projects like the electrification of 10 barangays in Calinog town. It is up to our members if they decide to become a full-fledged cooperative or stay with NEA,” Padilla said.