Publishers’ group cites Iloilo City power utility

A special report of the Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PAPI) on the status of the power supply in Iloilo City has identified the reasons for the collapse of the 96-year hold of Panay Electric Co. (PECO) on the distribution of electricity in the city.

It said PECO’s allegedly poor management led its customers and local officials to reject its service and ask Congress and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to replace their power supplier.

“PECO, for much of its last years as the city’s electric power distribution utility, had become synonymous to the phrase ‘technical incompetence’ following years of unexplained and prolonged power interruptions that for a while had actually threatened the economic viability of Iloilo City, turning off investors instead of attracting them. PECO’s service, at least in its last few years, was nothing but a complete mess,” the PAPI report noted.

The ERC had referred to operational lapses of PECO including defective or inefficient protective devices, unsafe electric posts, overheating substations and failure to upgrade its distribution system for many years.

“Various sectors of the Iloilo City community express its full backing to MORE Power (the new distribution utility in Iloilo City), with all of them saying the new power distributor is on the right track,” according to the PAPI report.

Meanwhile, some business and church leaders in Iloilo

City said they are holding on to the commitment of MORE

Power to better and improved ser vice.

“From the standpoint of being a consumer myself, I ask everyone to bear with the situation and have a little more patience. MORE Power cannot do miracles, like instantly solving the woes we had experienced for decades under PECO. It’s only fair that we allow MORE Power to prove its worth,” Msgr. Meliton Oso, head of the Jaro Archdiocese Social Action Center, said.

The Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers of the Philippines is opposing any attempt to bring back PECO to Iloilo City because the new power distributor supposedly has the capability to address the needs of the city.

PAPI said the issues involving MORE Power and PECO were “not a simple matter because they involve electricity, the lifeblood and crucial tool for the city’s socioeconomic development.”