Primelectric, majority shareholder of Ignite Power, wants to replicate its track record with Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) for its proposed partnership with South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (SOCOTECO II).
In a statement, Primelectric said that in just 16 months under their joint venture company, Negros Electric and Power Corporation (Negros Power), Primelectric and CENECO delivered measurable results: system losses were slashed in half — from 12% to 6% — unscheduled power outages dropped by 60%, and average interruption duration fell by a dramatic 90%. The cooperative also maintained the lowest electricity rate in the region throughout the transformation.
These gains followed a capital injection of over P2 billion for the rehabilitation of aging power distribution infrastructure, part of Primelectric’s five-year development plan for CENECO’s service area covering Bacolod, Silay, Bago, and Talisay, plus the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto.
Negros Power holds a 25-year franchise to operate as a distribution utility across these areas — the third-largest electric cooperative footprint in the Philippines.
The company said its Negros experience demonstrated what is possible when private sector investment and technical expertise are brought into a cooperative setting.
Through Ignite Power, Primelectric is seeking to replicate the CENECO model through a proposed joint venture with SOCOTECO II, which serves consumers across SoCSarGen — parts of South Cotabato, Sarangani, and General Santos City.
Ignite says the same playbook — infrastructure investment, system modernization, and operational efficiency — can deliver comparable improvements for SOCOTECO II consumers, who currently experience reliability challenges similar to those CENECO faced before the partnership began.
