Iloilo City’s electricity provision assured after ‘power’ struggle solved

MANILA, Philippines – Iloilo City residents can now ease their worries of electric service interruptions after a decision from the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court (RTC) settled the struggle between the two service providers fighting for control.

This assurance of a continuous electric provision was made by More Electric and Power Corp (More Power) after the RTC issued a writ of possession, allowing the company to acquire the distribution assets of Panay Electric Co. (Peco).

“In order to ensure continuity of services to the consumers of Iloilo City, More Power troubleshooters and line teams are mobilized to provide assistance as may be needed,” More Power President and legal counsel Roel Castro said on Sunday.

The issue between the two companies started when Peco’s franchise to provide electric services to Iloilo expired last January 2019, and after More Power’s application for a franchise was granted by Congress.

More Power was looking to seize Peco’s assets, but the Energy Regulatory Commission gave Peco a provisional franchise, allowing it to continue the distribution of power in Iloilo to avoid power interruption while the case is still ongoing.

READ: Judge wants More Power vs Peco case tried outside of Iloilo

Last Friday, Peco asked the Court of Appeals to stop the implementation of the court’s order to turnover their assets to More Power.  Peco claimed that More Power cannot yet take hold of their assets because of the temporary restraining order that they are seeking.

READ: Peco asks CA to stop implementation of Iloilo court order on More Power ‘takeover’

More Power said in a statement that it has already seized several substations that Peco used to operate, including the following:

• Baldoza-La Paz substation (land including all machineries and improvements, buildings);
• General Luna substation (Meter Lab, Power Plant Building and Switchboard House);
• Tabuc Suba, Jaro substation (land, machinery);
• Bolilao, Mandurriao substation (land, buildings, and machinery);
• Molo substation (land, and buildings, machinery) on Avanceña Street.

“More Power said it is ready to submit to the Iloilo City RTC its program for the complete takeover of the distribution facilities in the city, including the timelines on the transition period, accounting, turnover of records like the list of consumers, and documents relevant to the operation of the distribution system,” the company said.