Task force on Daneco presents new name to Davao del Norte, ComVal consumers

By Manuel Cayon – October 16, 2019
from Business Mirror

TAGUM, Davao del Norte—The Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco) will now be renamed Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (Nordeco) to indicate the coverage of the two provinces comprising the franchise, according to the Malacañang-created task force to restore order at the then strife-torn Daneco.

The renaming would also signal the reorganization of the cooperative, from the temporary management by the Task Force Duterte-Northern Davao Power to the new set of officials and board of directors that consumers will elect during another general assembly soon.

Mario Angelo M. Sotto, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) supervisor for Daneco, told reporters at the side of the special general assembly here on Saturday that the reorganized electric cooperative would be finalized in January next year after a series of transition activities, including the reorganization meeting next week and an election of officers next month in another general assembly.

The transition would also commence immediately with the reorganization meeting, handing the management of the Daneco Inc. from the task force, to the soon-to-be renamed Nordeco, to the new set of officers.

The task force was formed in February 2017, after a lingering period of violent strife in the Daneco management, which split into two in 2011—one group allied with the NEA management, and the other with the Cooperative Development Authority. Each group collected the bills payment of the consumers.

The task force said Daneco was saddled with financial obligations to power suppliers of P2.1 billion when it took over the management in 2017. Manuel T. Cayon

During the second Executive Session of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley clients, mayors, governors and other stakeholders in 2018, Sotto said Daneco improved on its collection.

That year in January, collections reached 95 percent (P367.05 million), but slipped to 78 percent (299.36 million) in February, and went back up to 87 percent (P339.52 million) in March, to 96 percent (P343.93 million) in April and to the record 98 percent (P414.72 million) in May.

NEA Administrator Edgardo R. Masongsong said a full collection from all its more than 200,000 electric consumers could reach more than P500,000.

Capex on repairs, infrastructure improvement

This year, Daneco Inc. spent P70 million to repair ailing equipment and transmission lines and already help improved the services, eliminating power blackouts that plagued the area during the last decade. The amount was still 3 percent of its target expenditure on improving the facilities and replacing old lines.

“Before we took over, systems loss reached 23 percent of total supply. We have reduced it to 15-17 percent,” he added.

Sotto said there were still remnants of the old Daneco-CDA group, and still continued to collect the bills from consumers. But many have been jailed already, he said, after the task force implement the cease and desist order.

“This group still collects around P10 million, but this would not last long when the law would reach them,” he warned.