ABOUT two weeks ago, the survey firm Capstone-Intel Corp. circulated a press release detailing the results of a survey it had conducted among electricity customers in Batangas province, particularly those served by the Batangas 1 Electric Cooperative and the Batangas 2 Electric Cooperative (Batelec 1 and 2). The results showed that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the service these customers are receiving from these two cooperatives.
The survey received some modest media attention in the days after it was released, probably less than the research firm was hoping for, and certainly less than it should have in the context of energy regulation and policy. It raises a number of interesting questions, not only about the state of these two electric cooperatives, but also about the way electric co-op performance is assessed and regulated; and the options, or lack thereof, for households and businesses whose electricity service is inadequate.
Batelec 1 distributes electricity in the western parts of Batangas (Agoncillo, Lemery, San Luis, San Nicolas, Sta. Teresita, Taal, Calaca, Balayan, Tuy, Calatagan, Lian and Nasugbu), while Batelec 2 covers the eastern side (Lipa City, Tanauan City, Alitagtag, Balete, Cuenca, Laurel, Lobo, Mabini, Malvar, Mataas na Kahoy, Padre Garcia, Rosario, San Jose, San Juan, Talisay, Tingloy and Taysan). Batangas City and its immediate environs are served by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco); there are no other electricity distributors in the province. This is an important note because of one rather odd metric the survey presented.
The Capstone-Intel survey showed that 62 percent of respondents across Batangas experience at least one or two power outages a month, “with some reporting as many as 10,” the press release said. For customers of Batelec 1, that figure jumps to 81 percent, and in Batelec 2’s service area, 93 percent of respondents said they experienced multiple outages a month.
The other two metrics the survey measured were “customer satisfaction,” which evidently means customers’ overall sentiments toward their electricity providers; and “customer service satisfaction,” which presumably covers interactions such as complaints, repair requests, billing and related questions, and so forth. In both metrics, the two co-ops scored below the “provincial average,” with Batelec 2 faring a bit worse overall. The press release said a significant number of electricity customers expressed a desire to switch providers, with more of Batelec 1’s customers saying so, although no other details about this question were given.
Finally, since the midterm elections are just around the corner (and thank heavens for that, for I am heartily tired of campaign “news”), the survey also asked respondents how likely they would be to vote for candidates who “would address the power situation in the province.” A slight majority (53 percent) indicated they would be likely to consider that at the ballot box, while another 41 percent had no opinion.
Although I take it for granted that the survey was done properly in a statistical sense — it’s not that hard, especially if one is in the survey business — it is clear that there was a predetermined conclusion in mind. The unreliable state of electricity service in Batangas is a topic of some public conversation, anecdotally; someone wished to lend some expert credibility to that, and so this survey was launched. If, on the other hand, the intention was to determine the state of electricity service throughout Batangas, the questions would have been more exploratory than they were: “What is the state of electricity service?” instead of, “How bad do you think your electricity service is?”
Based on the National Electrification Administration’s (NEA) quarterly compliance report on electric cooperatives around the country, the most recent of which is from the fourth quarter of 2024, both Batelec 1 and 2 are in the “yellow” category, a status that does not indicate service as bad as what customers seem to be saying it is. Each co-op only falls short of the “green” benchmark on one of the seven key indicators, which is “feeder loss.” This, in turn, indicates that their local distribution grids are in need of some repairs and upgrades. Batelec 1 is worse than Batelec 2 in this regard, with a feeder loss percentage of 11.25 compared with 9.68 percent. Otherwise, the two co-ops are up to snuff with respect to the standards set by the NEA, although it must be said those feeder loss figures are honestly pretty bad, and do explain the frequent outages that have been reported.
My instant impression of the survey is that it is the sort of thing an enterprise interested in taking over the co-op’s distribution area would do, such as has already happened a couple of times in other parts of the country. I was apparently not the only one who thought so because almost immediately, some of the usual suspects among the “energy advocacy” crowd began tagging Meralco as the one behind the survey. Meralco has long been suspected of wanting to expand outside its Batangas City beachhead, and it may, in fact, be interested in doing so if a good opportunity arose, but as far as this survey is concerned, the company confirmed to me that it had nothing to do with it and no foreknowledge of its being conducted.
So, “who wants the Batangas co-ops out?” remains an unanswered question, but it is entirely possible that the survey was honest in concluding that it is the co-ops’ customers themselves. That possibility raises another question about whether the NEA’s compliance monitoring — which has always seemed to be a well-managed, consistent and reliable yardstick — adequately captures co-op performance. As the NEA’s matrix is now, it does not include any customer service measures. Perhaps it should, although developing ones that are fair and accurate is tricky, because customers tend to be negative in their perceptions (no one likes the electric company).
Bluesky: @benkritz.bsky.social