ILOILO City – This highly urbanized city is at risk of suffering from a power crisis, warned the Private Electric Power Operators Association (PEPOA).
The franchise to distribute electricity here must not be given to a company that has no distribution system and would have to build one from scratch, it told the Lower House’s committee on legislative franchises.
It would be wiser if Panay Electric Company (PECO), the existing power distributor in this city, is allowed to extend its franchise (House Bill 6023), according to PEPOA in a Sept. 19 letter to committee chairperson Cong. Franz Alvarez.
The group opposed the application of More Minerals Corp. (MMC) to take over power distribution in Iloilo City (House Bill No. 8132).
“We were shocked to learn of the hasty approval of the franchise application of MMC to the detriment of the incumbent distribution utility, PEC).This development is deeply concerning to us as it puts a highly urbanized city like Iloilo at risk,” stressed PEPOA.
According to Atty. Ranulfo Ocampo, PEPOA president, MMC does not have the technical capability to operate and maintain a power distribution utility in Iloilo City by the mere fact that it is a mining company.
“Even if MMC were to change its primary purpose into power distribution, no company can get the required experience and qualifications in just a few days. This alone shows that MMC is not technically capable to serve as the power distribution utility in Iloilo City and do not deserve to be granted a legislative franchise to operate as such,” Ocampo added.
MMC does not have any track record or the experience in running an electric distribution. PECO, on the other hand, has been in the power distribution business for 95 years already.
Ocampo said PECO is one of the top-performing distribution utilities in the country – No. 8 out of 146 players – in terms of power reliability as shown by its System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) data.
As to the erroneous billing complaints of PECO consumers cite MMC as one of the reasons it applied for a franchise, Ocampo said the number of complaints registered with the Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) does not even comprise .01 percent of PECO’s more than 60, 000 customer base.
“To make this as basis for approving the franchise application MMC is unjustifiable. Almost all electric distribution utilities, even the best-performing ones, have erroneous billing complaints which can be resolved on their own initiatives, or with ERC intervention if needed. This is not something new to the industry and is certainly not sufficient basis for withholding the franchise renewal of PECO,” Ocampo stressed.
The PEPOA president also emphasized that PECO has played a key role in Iloilo City’s economic growth these past five years.
“Its ability to support big investors in terms of their power requirements is seen in the massive growth of the city in recent years. Because of this, the city of Iloilo brings in high economic returns to the Philippines and continues to do so. It does not make sense at all to change that economic growth negatively by approving the electric distribution franchise of MMC,” said Ocampo./PN
