National Electrification Administration (NEA) chief Edgardo Masongsong recently extolled the Pangasinan Electric Cooperative I (Panelco I) for empowering majority of its member-consumer-owners (MCOs), which enabled it to reach almost a billion in total assets.
Masongsong met the executives of Panelco-1 when he graced its 10th Annual General Assembly Meeting for the first time last April 1 at the Don Leopoldo Sison Convention Center in Alaminos City.
“I was looking at your annual report and I was pleased because, first of all, your electric cooperative is almost a billionaire electric cooperative with over P900-million in assets. So, again, congratulations,” the NEA administrator said in his speech.
Masongsong lauded Panelco-1 for already connecting almost 80,000 MCOs out of its estimated 90,000 potential customers, making it worthy of receiving the AAA rating from NEA in 2016.
He took note of its compliance with key performance standards set by the agency, which includes collection efficiency, financial viability, technical efficiency, system loss and institutional improvements, among others.
Masongsong said this is vital because one of the aims of NEA under the Duterte administration is to energize all households especially in the rural areas.
“What President Rodrigo Duterte wants us to accomplish is for each house in the country to have access to electricity way before 2022,” he noted.
The NEA chief mentioned that he is looking forward to working with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to pull this off. Panelco-1 is provisionally registered with the CDA since March 10, 1993.
Masongsong also took the opportunity to invite its Board of Directors, management staff and MCOs to participate in the upcoming National Summit for Electric Consumers to be held in Tagum City, Davao del Norte on April 26, 2017.
They were likewise requested to attend a two-day consultative conference between NEA, the electric cooperatives under its supervision and their respective MCOs, which will also take place in the same city on April 27-28, 2017.
Panelco-1 is the exclusive franchise holder to operate an electric light and power services in the City of Alaminos and Municipalities of Agno, Anda, Bani, Bolinao, Burgos, Dasol, Infanta and Mabini, all in the province of Pangasinan.