BENECO WELCOMES PROPOSED CITY ORDINANCE SIMPLIFYING REQUIREMENTS FOR CFEI

January 26, 2025 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY

The Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) has no objection to the proposed city ordinance relaxing some requirements for the issuance by the city of a CFEI (Certificate of Final Electrical Inspection) which is needed by the electric cooperative to connect electricity to households. “We support the proposed ordinance on the simplification
of requirements for the issuance of the CFEI,” Ramel Rifani, network services department manager, said
during the public consultation on the ordinance held at the BENECO headquarters Tuesday morning.

Proposed ordinance no. 00-69-24, authored by councilor Rocky Aliping, directs the city building official to ease up on the requirements for applicants of electrical connection for the city’ residential structures. The ordinance, if passed, will rename the CFEI as Certificate of Electrical Inspection (CFEI), in a bid to make permanent the amnesty ordinances which the city council have repeatedly passed in the past. The proposed measure, however, will not affect or modify the requirements of BENECO for electrical connection. Rifani said the measure will only cover the requirements for the issuance on a CFEI which by law, must be issued by the local government unit.

The CFEI is submitted to the electric cooperative to make the electric connection. But presently, the city will not issue a CFEI if the applicant has no building permit or a land and title over the property where the house or structure was built. Under Aliping’s proposal, a tax declaration over the property will be enough. The measure will also allow connections to houses in reservations and public places provided the applicants can secure a permit from the government agencies that are in charge for such properties.

The proposed ordinance intended to address the growing number of structures in the city that have no building permit and therefore have no electric connection or those that have secured connections illegally. ”Out of the 110,000 structures in the city, 90,000 are reportedly without building permit. The last amnesty for electric service connection stopped in June 2022, that meant since June 2022, only structures with building permit were granted CFEI by CBAO.

In fact, as per the Integrated Institute for Electrical Engineers (IIEE), about 5,000 applicants are expected to apply for connection once this simplification ordinance is passed,” Aliping said. Rifani said the ordinance will not mean that BENECO will also relax its requirements for electrical connection. “The applicants will still have to comply with the utility’s electrical and safety conditions as the same cannot be compromised,” he said.

He added that BENECO will have to be ready with more kilowatt hour meters to install due to the expected surge of applications for service connection once the ordinance gets the council’s nod. Aliping, the representative of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) to the city council, said the ordinance is already on its second reading before the city council and the inputs during the consultation will be considered in the final draft of the ordinance before it is submitted for third reading.

Laarni Ilagan