Baguio, Beneco pursue light management agreement

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – The city government and the Benguet Electric Cooperative Inc. decided to pursue their long-delayed streetlight management deal even as the city’s Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology venture remains in limbo due to questions on its feasibility.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said he signed a memorandum of agreement with the Beneco allowing the power firm to take over the management and operation of streetlights as identified in the MOA.

The MOA was forwarded to the Beneco for signing by general manager Gerardo Verzosaafterwhich, it will be submitted to the city council for confirmation.

As per the MOA, Beneco will take over the management of city’s streetlights and will be paid the equivalent of 12 burning hours of electric consumption for unmetered streetlights in lieu of payment for the services.

By taking over the management, Beneco will assume duties and all liabilities in administering the streetlights and lighting fixtures “including any accidents or untoward incidents arising from the administration of said facilities..., undertake all repair, replacement or maintenance activities on its account and using its own means to include manpower, tools, contraptions, machineries and connoisseurs.”

As per the MOA, Beneco will also convert the metered streetlights into non-metered except the metered park lights, LED streetlights, metered lightings installed along flyovers and overpasses and metered streetlights which are being supplied and served by underground conductor wires located along Session Road, Upper Session Road Extension, Upper Magsaysay Road, Abanao Road, Abanao Road Extension, Harrison Road, Kisad Road and Legarda Road.

To ensure that all streetlights and lighting fixtures are maintained, the city will form an inspection committee which will include all barangay captains who will take charge of reporting busted or faulty streetlights or fixates to the BENECO. The said committee will also identify other public places that need to be illuminated.

The Beneco management deal will continue until the city has contracted out the streetlight management to a private entity for conversion into LED or other forms of power saving devices.

Last Monday, the terms of reference for the LED venture failed to take off at the city council anew as questions remained on the feasibility of the project which is anchored on a cost-savings sharing scheme.

The mayor has maintained that the proposed deal is a workable option for upgrading the city’s lighting system.

Beneco in 2009 offered to take over the operation of the city’s unmetered streetlights from the city engineer’s office and even conducted an experimental management run for nine months to prove the advantages of their set-up.

The experiment proved the advantages of Beneco’s set up with Councilor Joel Alangsab also attesting that 95 percent of the barangay captains expressed preference for the power firm’s management as it was more efficient and effective.

The city council and the local finance committee however then balked at its permanent implementation due to the added cost it will entail due to the adjustment of the billing system from the original ten to 12 burning hours which city officials then saw as prohibitive for the city.

But the mayor reconsidered the offer because of the difficulty in maintaining the facilities causing delays in the replacement of damaged fixtures but sought the inclusion of the metered lights in the set-up.
Beneco refused and even withdrew the offer but the two parties later agreed to meet halfway to realize the venture.

Beneco, in its offer, promised that under its management, the problems presently encountered by the residents particularly the delayed replacement of damaged fixtures and inconsistent switch on and off schedules leading to power wastage will be eradicated.