Canaway News Philippines

With the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) board voting to implement the refund order of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) with regards to the P102 million overcharge, cooperative officials assured that there would be no power rate increases as the rebate would not be sourced from INEC’s member-consumers.

INEC board President Lorenzo Rey Ruiz made this announcement as he clarified rumors which alluded to the cooperative going bankrupt once the rebate order is implemented.

Ruiz explained that ERC did not intend to make INEC insolvent, rather, he said, it only want the cooperative to correct some of its mistakes in billing its member-consumers.

“The ERC has no plan to kill the operation of INEC or plan to bankrupt the cooperative but only to correct some mistakes. Ket no plano da a ma-bankrupt ti INEC ket di pay awan agbayaden kadagiti member-consumers (For if they planned to bankrupt INEC then they would have ordered member-consumers not to pay their bills anymore),” Ruiz said.

Ruiz also appealed to INEC member-consumers to be more considerate and understanding of the cooperative’s present situation as he allayed fears that the power utility might raise power rates so it would have a source of fund from where the P102 million rebate would be taken.

He expounded that member-consumers who would be entitled to rebates would have a decrease in their power bills as soon as the refund order is implemented.

The implementation of the ERC order however would still have to wait as the motion for clarification filed by INEC with regards to the mode and timeframe for the rebates has yet to be decided upon by the regulatory body.

The said clarification motion also asks the ERC for the methodology of computation to be used as well as who would be entitled to rebates.

As for the source of fund for the rebate, Ruiz said INEC’s finance managers as well as members of the board who have knowledge on finance would have to sit down and thresh out the matter.

Presently, Ruiz is proposing that the rebate be done in a manner of deduction in the power bills of those who are entitled to the refund as this would lessen the financial suffering of INEC. But Ruiz acknowledged that it would be the ERC which would have a final say on this matter.

He also reiterated the fact that the cooperative was not running away from its responsibility as he reminded the member-consumers that the INEC board has decided to implement the refund order even if they still have several legal avenues that they could have turned to further clarify the issue.

“This means that INEC, with the board decision, is very willing to start the refund to finally solve the problem,” Ruiz said.

Meanwhile, the ERC refund order would not affect INEC employees’ benefits contrary to rumors as Ruiz stressed that if there would be a need for sacrifice, it would be the members of the INEC board, the department heads and zone managers who would be asked to sacrifice.

This should be the case, Ruiz emphasized, since the INEC employees had nothing to do with the formula used in the computation.

Ruiz further clarified that the P102 million that were overcharged from member-consumers were used in the cooperative’s expansion projects, rehabilitation of old power lines, the establishment of new sub-stations and other projects.

He also maintained that the said amount had not gone to the pockets of INEC officials contrary to the charge made by ERC Chair Rodolfo B. Albano Jr., which the ERC head made during INEC’s annual general meeting last year.