More than half of the electric cooperatives (ECs) operating in the country were given the highest ratings in terms of performance standards, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) said on Tuesday.
There are 121 ECs under the NEA, which evaluates and determines EC’s overall performance ratings using two criteria—key performance standard (KPS) at 80 percent and EC classification (ECC), at 20 percent.
Based on the agency’s 2017 EC overall performance assessment, 87 ECs were rated AAA. Of the 87 ECs, 33 received an overall score of 100.
In 2016 78 ECs were rated AAA, of which, 24 garnered 100 points.
It also reported that all power distributors in Regions 6 (Western Visayas), 7 (Central Visayas) and Caraga attained AAA rating, making them the highest performers. Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) is the most improved region with 10 of its 11 ECs earning the AAA categorization from the state-run agency.
Also, 76 ECs maintained their AAA status, while 20 ECs showed improvement in ratings.
The AAA rating is the highest score given by the NEA to ECs that indicates the power distributors’ full compliance on 4 parameters, namely financial, institutional, technical and reportorial requirements. The D rating is the lowest. Scores and their corresponding ratings are as follows: 95-100 = AAA; 90-94 = AA; 85-89 = A; 75-84 = B; 50-74 = C; and 49 and below = D.
Results of the recent assessment also showed that 83 percent or a total of 101 out of the 121 ECs have notched either AAA, AA or A status last year. Of the remaining 20 ECs, four improved their performance either from C to B or D to C; 13 ECs manifested improvement in total scores, while three retained their performance level.
NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong welcomed the results of last year’s overall performance assessment of 121 ECs nationwide, while urging them to keep upgrading their services and remain responsive to the needs of their member-consumer-owners.
“The results of this annual assessment of electric cooperatives also indicate that the institutional, financial and technical assistance readily given by the NEA are getting significant results in terms of developing the capacity and performance of the EC sector,” Masongsong said.
“Let me challenge the ECs to convert these categorization figures into more salient improvements in their services, as these must also be felt more by their respective member-consumer-owners,” the NEA chief added.
