Rubbing salt

JUST WHEN you thought it was safe to turn the aircon on, here comes the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines a.k.a. NGCP with its veiled threats of rotating blackouts.

As if that’s not enough, they decided to rub salt to the wounds of the Ilonggos who are still recovering from the last NGCP-induce blackout by increasing its transmission charges by 19%.

MORE Power has no choice but to pass through 10 cents per kilowatt hour increase on the electricity rate of its consumers for the January 2024 billing cycle.

According to MORE Power, the additional ancillary service charge by NGCP to maintain the reliability of their electricity grid and the balance in the system is the reason for this increase; this is so they may recover in time of power system disturbance.

This means the effective electricity rate for the January 2024 billing cycle is P10.3210 kWh, 10 cents higher than the December 2023 billing, P10.2259, MORE Power consumers will receive this on the January 18 to February 14, 2024 billing.

Of course, MORE Power’s Distribution, System, and Metering (DSM) rate, remains the same; take note that it is NGCP that increased their transmission charge not MORE Power.

So, if you must, blame NGCP for the power rate increase and not MORE Power. Likewise, if you’re pissed off with the blackouts then also blame NGCP as MORE Power is very much a victim like you every time there’s a blackout. You see, they cannot bill you if you’re not consuming electricity, meaning they lose money every time there’s a blackout.

Meanwhile, this is supposed to be the solution to the blackout woes: NGCP’s P51.3-B project completed

For the first time in Philippine history, three major power grids of the Philippines are now interconnected with each other after NGCP completed the 450-megawatt (MW) Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP).

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. led the simultaneous ceremonial energization of the P51.3- billion project in Malacañang on Friday.

Under the project, a 184-circuitkilometer high-voltage direct current submarine cable with a transfer capacity of 450 MW now connects the Mindanao and Visayas grids through Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, and Santander, Cebu.

The P52-billion MVIP connects the Mindanao and Visayas grids via a 184- circuit- kilometer highvoltage direct current submarine transmission line, which runs from Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, to Santander, Cebu, and includes 526 circuit- kilometers overhead lines. (Manila Times 1/28,2024)

Lovely. Unfortunately, Panay is not connected to that yet, because the 230-kilovolt (kV) Cebu-NegrosPanay backbone project is still not completed, or worse, they haven’t even started.

According to MORE Power president/CEO Roel Castro, “Iloilo could still face rotating brownouts even if the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines completes its t ransmission i nfrastructure projects in Western Visayas, unless NGCP constructs a new 3×100 MVA substation, a part from the completion of the Cebu- NegrosPanay (CNP) backbone project.

If the 3×100 MVA Iloilo substation is not operational by the end of 2024, Iloilo City will face rotating brownouts due to increased power demand.”

Although most Ilonggos would

rather discard that blackout into the bin of forgotten memories, the Iloilo City and Provincial governments are preparing for an “airtight” civil case against the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in a bid to recover the damages

caused by the four-day blackout that hit Panay Island and the rest of Western Visayas.

Lawyers from the City Legal Office and the Provincial Legal Office have already met twice at the Iloilo City Hall and discussed various legal issues and the evidence they needed to support the filing of a Petition for Mandamus with the Regional Trial Court.

City Legal Officer Edgardo Gil said the meetings are for a case build-up wherein they discussed the gathering of evidence, we will make sure we will have an airtight case. Otherwise, we will not file it, he added.

As Alice said in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland…“it’s getting curiouser and curiouser”./