The board of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) agreed to form a technical working group (TWG) that will flesh out strategies and mechanisms to be applied in synchronizing rules and edicts being enforced on the country’s electric cooperatives.
The formation of TWG had been the initial critical step taken by the two relevant agencies, so the contradictions in policies relating to the operations of the ECs could finally be straightened out.
“The TWG composition is in compliance with the agreed course of action during the joint meeting of the NEA Board of Administrators and CDA board of directors,” NEA stated.
It added that the joint memorandum “aims to harmonize the conflicting laws, rules and regulations applicable to the electric cooperatives registered with the CDA.”
The electrification agency announced that the TWG will be chaired by Board Member Agustin Madattu and designated as vice chairman is Acting Deputy Administrator Vic Alvaro.
The members of the technical working group are: Acting Administrator Nollie Alamillo; Department Manager Xerxes Adzuara; Acting Corporate Secretary Gwen Enciso-Kyamko; and Division Manager Cayetano Juarez.
The TWG has not specified yet the rules and policies that are targeted for harmonization; and there are no timelines specified also on when they can accomplish specified task.
The NEA is the agency that has been supervising the operations of the ECs; and has likewise been measuring their performance based on metrics designed to gauge the outcome of their yearly operations.
The government-run agency is similarly the entity overseeing the fulfillment of electrification mandates set forth in the service domain of the electric cooperatives; and at the same time, it has been extending loan facilities to them to bankroll energization initiatives as well as other projects.
In times of calamities, it is also the NEA that serves as the ‘point of refuge’ of the electric cooperatives – including those on facets of financing access when it comes to repair or rehabilitation of their damaged facilities.
The country has 121 electric cooperatives, but they are not exactly registered or listed as a “cooperative” under the CDA; and there are also legal questions if these power utilities manned by member-consumer-owners (MCOs) can actually be classified as cooperative.