By Mae Singuay
Employees of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) said they were highly impressed with the way MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) serves the residents of Iloilo City.
Ceneco employees recently visited MORE Power’s office to personally check the electric distribution utility’s modern facilities and well-organized technology.
Ma. Cecilia Pe-Calunod, Vice President for Community Relations of the Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC), said Ceneco employees were invited by its sister company for a benchmarking initiative that aims to present how MORE Power operates 24/7 to give quality and better service for the Ilonggos.
“We do business. We want our people to be leaders in the long run. That’s why makita nila kag na-witness in their very own eyes, may employee engagement gid. We value that. Holistic ang approach sa empleyado,” Pe-Calunod, also the head of MORE Power’s Customer Care Department, said.
“The management always believes that giving benefits or attention to the welfare of the employees would also be giving good service,” she added.
MORE Power also presents the company’s programs and activities for their employees as they work with better results and efficiently serve power consumers.
Ceneco employees visited MORE Power’s state-of-the-art substations in Mandurriao and Molo districts, the 24/7 customer service office, the control center, the trading office where the distribution utility monitors lower prices of electricity, and the supply warehouse.
The employees also admired MORE Power’s modern facilities which, they said, are too different from Ceneco’s equipment that has been operating for decades, serving its franchise areas in Negros Occidental.
“Nakita ko gid nga daw kalayu sang nalab-ot sang MORE, which is bag-o lang kasugod. Kag mostly nakita ko sa substations, high-tech na gid ya. Malayu sa iban,” John Raymond Ortiz, Ceneco’s service installation leadman, said.
Ceneco employee Sheena Lyn Diaz, during the benchmarking activity, said she was amazed at how MORE Power processes applications for electrical connection.
“With MORE Power, it takes only a week to install electrical connection for those applying. But in Ceneco, it takes more than three to four weeks to be installed,” Diaz said.
“We were amazed [by MORE Power’s customer service] since most of us were in-charge of the application. Possibly, because Ceneco is a cooperative and there were many requirements which sometimes the applicant failed to comply. Sa installation, lawig gid ya sa amon,” she added.
For his part, account inspector Jonathan Prietos, who has been working with Ceneco for 29 years, said it is time that the cooperative needs a change.
Prietos said Ceneco needs to move on to a different status due to pending problems which have not been acted on immediately.
The employees are optimistic that the joint venture company NEPC, will be granted a legislative franchise as the new distribution utility in central Negros.
Ceneco is finalizing a joint venture agreement with Primelectric Holdings Inc., the mother company of MORE Power.
Ceneco’s franchise areas include Negros Occidental cities of Bago, Talisay and Silay as well as the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto, and capital Bacolod City./MS, WDJ