Energy regulatory body ruling on Peco plea out on Wednesday
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
By Kathy Villalon Cinco
THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will release its decision on the Panay Electric Company's (Peco's) petition for a provisional authority on its power rates on Wednesday.
The ERC, Peco and Mirant Global Corporation-owned Panay Power Corporation (PPC) held a one-day deliberation Monday with regards to the said petition as well as the threat of a blackout on Thursday.
Earlier, PPC said it no longer has the funds to purchase bunker fuel and whatever supply they have will last only until December 15.
During the hearing, ERC Commissioner Rodolfo Albano, told the PCC, "You are not beggars. We have to work on it."
The ERC's decision on PPC's complaint will also be out December 14.
Interventions
Mayor Jerry P. Trenas also tried to intervene by holding a meeting with representatives of Peco and PPC Monday, the day when he arrived from Manila after his Europe trip.
Trenas is quite concerned that the threat of a blackout could adversely affect Iloilo City.
"I'll do everything within my control so that this won't happen. I called Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla and ERC Commissioner Albano and they assured me that they will look into this," Trenas said.
Proposals
Meanwhile, Representative Raul Gonzalez Jr. of the lone district of Iloilo, during an interview over Aksyon Radyo Monday, said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has received his letter with regards to this concern.
"Before she left for Malaysia, she left instructions to Commissioner Albano and Secretary Lotilla to solve this without the Executive Department's intervention," Gonzalez said.
"According to the Office of Commissioner Albano, they will present a proposal to the PPC where the latter might want to secure a credit line so they'll have money to buy additional fuel. This is based on an informal communication between the ERC and PPC. I've heard that it's acceptable to the latter, but the part owner Metrobank seems to have misgivings with this. However, we have not received their formal reaction yet," Gonzalez added.
Background
Last September, Peco started to implement the ERC's decision that it should unbundle its rates, thus charging only P5 to consumers instead of its former P8. According to Peco and PPC, this has resulted to the former's inability to pay its P360 million debt to PPC, making the latter unable to purchase more fuel to generate electricity. Adrian Moncada, president of Mirant Global Philippines, said Peco's debt increases by more than P100 million a month. He also denied allegations that PPC and Peco are blackmailing the consumers so that the latter can increase the power rates it charges consumers. He added that if PPC shuts down, the National Power Corporation (NPC) or Transco cannot generate power to meet Peco's needed 78 megawatts. (with reports from Lory Ann B. Bilbao)
posted by philpower @ 12:12 PM,
