DOE: Govt has other options aside from takeover of Peco

ENERGY Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said on Wednesday there are other ways to address possible service interruption in Iloilo City other than a government takeover.

“One contingency measure is the government to take over in case there will be a problem. The DOE and ERC [Energy Regulatory Commission] are discussing other options we can’t make public yet. We want to assure the public we will not allow any service disruption,” said Cusi in a text message when asked if the agency has identified contingency measures.

On Wednesday morning, Senate Energy Committee Head Sherwin T. Gatchalian said in an interview that his office would coordinate with the DOE.

“We will write the DOE to request for contingency measures, just in case. The DOE has articulated they have the power to take over for the meantime because Peco [Panay Electric Co.] technically can’t operate anymore. But it was not spelled out how. We are talking about 60,000 connections, so how will DOE do it?” Gatchalian said.

Peco’s franchise to provide electricity expires on January 19. Lawmakers did not renew the franchise.

New player MORE Electric Corp. is expected to replace Peco as the electricity provider in Iloilo. MORE said Peco is not qualified to run as an electric firm mainly due to complaints from Iloilo residents.

Cusi had said the government, possibly through the National Electrification Administration (NEA), may take over the power distribution in Iloilo City if the dispute between Peco and MORE was not sorted out.

He said the NEA had already organized a task force to take over power distribution in Iloilo City “in case there will be no settlement in the issue.”

Meanwhile, the NEA reported on Wednesday that electric cooperatives (ECs) nationwide posted a 4-percent growth in energy sales in the second quarter of 2018 compared to the first quarter of the same year.

It said that ECs’ sales volume went up to 5,136 gigawatt-hours (GWh) from April to June 2018. Of these, 2,610 GWh was registered in Luzon; 1,133 GWh in the Visayas; and 1,393 GWh in Mindanao.

The state-run agency attributed the increase to the higher electricity consumed by the residential sector, which accounted for 2,670 GWh, or 52 percent, followed by the commercial sector at 1,130 GWh, or 22 percent. The industrial sector came in at 976 GWh, or 19 percent; public buildings at 257 GWh, or 5 percent; and other consumers at 103 GWh, or 2 percent.

As a result of the increase in GWh sales, the operating revenues of the ECs in the second quarter grew 14 percent to P52.616 billion, from the first quarter’s P46.126 billion. This brings the total operating revenues of the ECs from January to June 2018 to P98.742 billion.

The NEA has the supervisory powers over all ECs across the country as mandated under Republic Act 10531, also known as the “National Electrification Administration Reform Act of 2013.” Lenie Lectura