By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
THE move of Bacolod City’s Lone District Representative Greg Gasataya to hold a congressional inquiry next month purposely on the spiraling power rate of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) is quite “inoportuno”.
Inoportuno is Spanish term for ill-timed.
The power rate hike, however, is the current phenomenon not only in Bacolod but across the country billed as te “pambansang cry” of the power consumers.
Even officials of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) remain “hostages” in the situation.
They don’t even know what to do on how to mitigate the impact of the problem.
Sen. RaffyTulfo, chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Energy, already held an inquiry on the matter last month, but to no avail still.
Why?
Because among the triggering factors are foreign in nature – world fuel crisis and coal pricing brouhaha. Both are byproducts of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
COAL-DEPENDENT
Greg must know that Philippines remains coal-fired dependent. Though we have lots of renewable energy sources, they aren’t stable or dependable.
The Philippines thus has no readily available alternatives yet to coal-fired power plants. Nuclear power might be, but it remains debatable.
So, with the current escalation of the global coal prices heading towards record highs, we have no choice but to bear the brunt of this “undesirable phenomenon”.
Expectations are now high that European buyers will start loading up on coal for fear that there will be a standoff between Russia and western nations, leading to massive gas supplies cutoff. That’s why China and Indonesia, the main sources of coal, also play clever right now.
My personal research reveals current international pricing of coal plays at $262/tonne.
Aside from coal, world fuel turmoil is getting worse, too. Russia’s currently playing hardball with regards to the Europe’s gas supply. With this, fuel crisis already wreaked havoc around the world.
Philippines ain’t exempted, of course! So, not until the Russian-Ukraine war is over, the Philippines’ power crisis will remain a “headache” for all.
And Greg must acquaint himself with this underlying international mess, provoking power crunch in the country else he may sound “misplaced”.
MATTER OF COMPARISON
Anyways, I do admire Greg’s candidness in pushing for House Bill (HB) 475, calling for an inquiry on Ceneco’s power rate plus the frequent brownouts. In a text message, he said the inquiry will dwell on the matter of comparison with other electric cooperatives in Negros and Panay.
Moreover, he said, Ceneco’s frequent power interruptions “since time immemorial” will also be explored in the upcoming inquiry. Quite purposeful, indeed!
However, in a comparative check, among the three distribution utilities (DUs) in Negros Occidental, Ceneco still has the lowest rate this October. Its P15.4337 per kilowatt hour (kWh) is more or less a peso lower compared to that of Northern Negros Electric Cooperative’s (Noneco) P16.3639/kWh and Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative’s (Noceco) P16.4671/kWh.
But Greg insisted DUs in Panay have lower power rates compared to the trio in NegOcc.
Understandable! (Because) Panay has lots of embedded fossil-based power plants compared to Negros which has only one.
So, variability-wise there’s an impact in the generation via congestion charge especially if the power supply is coursed through or taken from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
WESM is among the power suppliers of the three DUs in Negros.
Greg, too, must know the real flow where the power rate goes or being paid.
Extracts include: generation charge, transmission charge, distribution charge and government’s universal charges and value added tax (VAT).
In sum, what greatly influences the power rate hike in the country is the generation charge because of the variability in fuel and coal prices in the global scene.
As to the brownouts, fact check also revealed that 51% to 60% of brownouts in Ceneco’s coverage areas every year are caused by the Sy-led National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Also add the force majeure.
‘SELF-SERVING’
Meanwhile, Greg’s mum on the “self-serving” issue on the inquiry push.
In 2019, Greg alongside congressmen Lord Allan Jay Velasco (Marinduque) and Mercedez Alvarez (6thh District, Negros Occ) filed House Bill 8827. It’s an act allowing the Gamboa Hermanos Farmworkers Multi-purpose Cooperative (GHFMPC) to construct, install, establish, operate, own, manage and maintain a distribution utility system for the conveyance of electric power to the end user in Negros.
Too, it seeks to provide dependable and efficient power distribution system in Negros Island.
Thus, such a measure was perceived as a prelude to take over Ceneco by 2025 when the latter’s franchise expires.
Greg, et.al got flak on this measure termed as “future power snatch”. Thus, the impending inquiry against Ceneco stirred Bacolod anew with many stakeholders still doubting the motive.
However, the Bacolod solon justified that his very purpose for this inquiry is to find the root of the problem(s) and mobilize resources to help address the issues.
Then, he capped: “At the end of the day, we only want affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for Bacolodnons.”/PN
