ZAMBOANGA CITY – Thirty highly skilled personnel from 16 electric cooperatives across Mindanao arrived here Wednesday to support the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Zamcelco) in its intensified campaign against power theft and system loss reduction.

The group consists of linemen, metering personnel, and engineers, who form part of the Task Force Metro Zamboanga, a unit created by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to assist Zamcelco in tackling illegal power connections, unmetered households, and unauthorized reconnections by disconnected users.

“The mere presence of these linemen serves as an inspiration for Zamcelco to push forward with its goals,” said lawyer Vic Alvaro, NEA deputy administrator of corporate resources and financial services and concurrent Zamcelco project supervisor.

General manager of the Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Dasureco), engineer Jerry Morastil, chairs the task force and is assisted by co-equals from several partner power co-ops.

The task force will focus its operations on the top 10 Zamcelco feeders identified as having the highest system losses.

Zamcelco’s current system loss averages 18 percent to 19 percent per month, resulting in revenue losses of PHP55 million to PHP60 million each month.

The allowable system loss for an electric cooperative, as set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), is 8.25 percent per month.

“Their work will include thorough inspections, large-scale meter replacements in both residential and commercial accounts, as well as database correction,” Alvaro said.

The Zamcelco management thanked NEA and the participating cooperatives, pledging full support for the task group and its mission.