Amreco wants review of Wesm rules

THE Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (Amreco) is pushing for the review of certain rules on the implementation of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (Wesm) especially those they believe to be unnecessary charges and detrimental to the interest of the consumers.

Amreco President Sergio C. Dagooc, during a press conference at Royal Mandaya Hall yesterday, Thursday, said their association targets to find a solution for the oversupply in Mindanao without having to compromise the welfare of the consumers. Dagooc said Wesm contains specific provisions that they find questionable.

He said they are questioning the line congestion rules stated in Wesm wherein an additional charge will be imposed to the electric companies buying electricity from a far-away plant because of the distance.

“From the consumer’s point of view, we have already paid for all the facilities of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). That’s why the transmission charges billed by Davao Light Power Corporation (DLPC), for example, includes already the costs when putting up the facilities upon transmission,” he said also adding under the law, a cooperative can’t start its operation without filing first the transmission development plan to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

He said it is no longer necessary that another charge will still be imposed when electricity is bought from the market going through the same line.

Dagooc said they will also not allow to happen in Mindanao what is happening in the operation of Wesm in Luzon and Visayas.

“Companies from Visayas will purchase from plants in Luzon because the bilateral prices are much cheaper at P3 to P4 compared to those in Visayas at P5 to P6 but their actual fee is P8 to P10 because of the additional charges because the line is much farther,” he said.

Another particular point that Amreco is pushing for is that the Philippine Electricity Spot Market Corporation (PEMC) board members should come from the stakeholders of Mindanao that will include representatives from consumer’s group and not just the generation companies, NGCP, and distribution utilities.

“They won’t understand our problem here in Mindanao because we are different. We have not yet been interconnected with Luzon. We can’t trade with them yet. We should talk about the inclusion of Mindanao when it has already been interconnected with Visayas. That’s the time we consider a single market under a single board. At this point in time, the member of the board should come from the stakeholders of Mindanao with consumer’s group. So when we price, it considers the impact on the consumers,” said Dagooc.