BENECO PASSES ISO SURVEILLANCE AUDIT

By LAARNI S. ILAGAN

When it rains, it pours for the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) in terms of awards!

After bagging 17 performance awards from the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the PHILRECA last week, BENECO again passed its ISO surveillance audit today.

The Manila-based DQS auditing firm, led by Edgardo Peria and Nelson Bumanglag, gave the electric cooperative a passing mark for its systems audit, the sixth of its ISO certification since 2019.

The auditors found no minor or major non-compliance on BENECO’s quality management system after checking documents, validating results, and analyzing the cooperative;’s procedures for around 25 processes.

“We are doing this (maintaining ISO) not just for the certification, but for us to further improve our services to our member consumer owners (MCOs),” Melchor Licoben, general manager said.

The cooperative is due for its third ISO recertification by August next year.

Maintaining BENECO’s ISO Certification validates BENECO’s recognition as one of the top-performing electric cooperatives in the country in the awarding ceremonies of the National Electrification Administration (NEA), Electric Cooperatives (EC), and Phil. Rural Electric Cooperatives Assn. (PHILRECA) Convergence at the Phil. International Convention Center (PICC) last week.

NEA’s Lumen’s awards gave BENECO such distinction while PHILRECA’s Awards from the Wires recognized BENECO as one of the outstanding ECs nationwide. NEA also awarded BENECO with the coveted Single Digit Feeder Loss and Green EC award among others.

Passing the ISO audit means that the electric cooperative has strictly observed quality management system standards in performing its mandate as an electric distribution utility under the ISO standard of 9001:2015.

The DQS auditors gave high marks to BENECO’s well-documented processes and procedures in the various departments as they also recommended several OFIs or opportunities for improvement. —30—