Davao power coop collections improve with flexi-payment

MANILA – The Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative Inc. (Daneco), under the National Electrification Administration (NEA), has improved its collection over the past three months since it began offering a flexible payment scheme to member-consumers having difficulty in paying their energy bills and facing disconnection.

In a news release issued Tuesday, Rey Nagar, Task Force Duterte-Northern Davao Power Board Director, reported that Daneco’s monthly collection has reached PHP350 million since May, a PHP60 million increase from the PHP290 million collection in April, after the “balik loob” program, aimed at giving delinquent Daneco member-consumer-owners (MCOs) a chance to settle their past due electricity bills — was intensified in May.

“What we did was to make a policy whereby the consumer makes a 15 percent down payment and the 85 percent of the total amount due is restructured up to two years. Unfortunately, we have to accept the fact that because of the huge debt of some of our MCOs, some will not be able to pay (them),” Nagar said.

However, those who refuse to settle their accounts, particularly those with unpaid electricity bills worth at least PHP100,000, will be made to face appropriate legal actions after receiving a demand letter from the electric cooperative, Nagar said.

He said that in Tagum alone, about 11,000 households have unsettled electricity bills.

Meanwhile, NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong praised the efforts of Daneco-NEA, which he said will soon be called the Northern Davao Light and Power Cooperative, for “their creativity in coming up with an initiative to lure back former consumers and taking bold steps to address the problems besetting the electric cooperative.”

Daneco covers the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley, including the cities of Tagum and Island Garden City of Samal, serving 162,000 MCOs. The electric cooperative also provides electricity to 16 municipalities.