Amid power woes, business flickers
Widow Sitti Amina Harun sells cupcakes, ice candies and chicken “tocino” to support her six children. “I need to use my savings wisely, so I invested in freezers, oven and other cooking utensils. I have my children as helpers in our business,” she says.
But the former overseas contract worker has one serious concern that was dimming her hopes: “Blackouts keep our business down.”
Now, Harun is having a hard time delivering 1,000 ice candies, 500 cupcakes and 300 packs of chicken tocino to 10 schools in Zamboanga City.
“We always have blackouts and I don’t want my children to stay late at night to help me,” she said.
William Lim, the president of Mega Fishing Corp., has the same lament. So does Rufo Pedro Soliven, a mall manager and chair of the Zamboanga City Chamber of Commerce.
“We have to operate normal processing and canning of sardines, but the use of generator sets requires additional fuel. Definitely, it also affects the pricing of sardines,” Lim said.
Power outages mean “additional cost to fire up the generator sets,” Soliven stressed. “Productivity of labor is hampered, not to mention the inconvenience. All these translate to unquantifiable losses to the business sector.”
All over Mindanao, the complaint is multiplied. And electric cooperatives are being blamed for the problem.
But Jesus Castro, the officer in charge of the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco), said the city was only one of those suffering from power shortage.
Zamcelco operates with an 80-megawatt consumption, but Castro said “the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) reduced our allocation to about 60 MW and that means two to three hours of blackout a day.”
The NGCP is a private corporation that operates and maintains the country’s transmission network and is responsible for delivering electricity to distribution utilities and electric cooperatives.
Growing consumption
Castro said the NGCP had to reduce the power load because “our main source, the hydro plants in Lanao, could no longer provide [to address] the growing consumption.” The hydroelectric plants produce a steady supply of 700 MW for Mindanao, but demand has risen to 1,000 MW.
The only alternative, Castro said, was to tap independent power sources, such as Therma Marine Inc. (TMI), to get at least 18 MW.
It has a price tag, though. “Consumers have to accept the P1 increase,” Castro said. Zamcelco charges P5.30 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and deriving more power from TMI would increase the rates by P1.
He said the industrial sector in the city was opposed to getting power from TMI.
George Ledesma, the president of the Industrial Group of Zamboanga, however, said he was never against drawing power from independent power producers.
“What we have been asking for is the cost impact or how much would be the cost per kWh. The 92-centavo/kWh bidding price for TMI using 18 MW is too much. Besides, Zamcelco failed to consult the consumers,” Ledesma said.
Frustration
In Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte, government officials have also expressed frustration over the frequent power outages.
“It’s terrible, frustrating,” Davao del Norte Gov. Arturo Uy said.
In the Caraga region, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur have been experiencing daily power interruptions that last 30 minutes to five hours.
North Cotabato Gov. Lala Taliño-Mendoza said consumers had also complained about “busted” home appliances because of the frequent power interruptions.
Again, the pressure is on the electric cooperatives. Uy urged the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco) to look for ways to improve its power supply through alternative sources other than presently being supplied by the NCGP.
“Daneco has to improve its power supply, by all means,” he said.
Retailer’s end
And Daneco gave the same answer—that the frequent brownouts which could sometimes last up to several hours were the result of load curtailment by NGCP.
“It’s really frustrating but what else can we do? Daneco is only a retailer and we can only buy as much as our wholesalers can provide,” said Dean Briz, the Daneco board president.
Daneco serves over 120,000 member-consumers. It needs 65 MW but due to low production, the NGCP can only provide 45 MW or a shortfall of 20 MW.
“We have to shut the power down every time the NGCP implements load curtailment,” said Briz.
Tagum City Mayor Rey Uy urged President Aquino to look into the power problems.
Fake crisis?
Since last week, Luwalhati Antonino, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (Minda), has been making the rounds calling for an investigation into what she called a “fake power crisis.”
Antonino had requested for a congressional inquiry, through the House committee on energy and House special committee on Mindanao affairs, to get to the bottom of the situation.
She said both the Agus 2 and Pulangi hydroelectric plants, which have a combined 65 MW or more, have untapped capacity that could sustain the power demand. Agus has an installed capacity of 180 MW but only 90 MW are being transmitted to the Mindanao grid. On the other hand, Pulangi has an installed capacity of 255 MW but only 180-200 MW are being dispatched.
“Why isn’t it being used when a lot of Mindanaoans are suffering from the daily brownout?” Antonino asked. She said Pulangi’s installed capacity could still be increased if dredging is done for full operation.
In January, the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives reported that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. is withholding the appropriation for the maintenance of Agus and Pulangi because the plants are due for sale as provided for by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).
Privatization
Rodolfo Ocat, the general manager of the South Cotabato Electric Cooperative II (Socoteco II), said the privatization of the power generation sector was more of a bane than boon in the power industry.
Ocat claimed the privatization of the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) assets had exacerbated the power supply problem, particularly in Mindanao.
“One of the culprits here is the Epira. Aside from reducing the power supply, it leads to the increase of the power rate,” Ocat added.
Socoteco II has been implementing a two-hour daily power outage in South Cotabato due to deficiency in the power supply.
Ocat warned that six to 12 hours rotational brownouts were expected next month when Napocor would suffer a 320-MW system deficiency due to routine annual maintenance in one of its plants. “This would mean a 43-megawatt load curtailment for Socoteco II,” he said.
“We could not find any power supplier that would agree to a one-month contract. Our power contract agreement with Therma Marine Inc. has a duration of at least one year,” Ocat said.
Should there be any available power supply, he said, the cost would be so high considering that it would last for only a month. “So instead of paying a very high rate, maybe we must bear the six to 12 hours rotational brownout daily,” Ocat said.
Mendoza wanted the NGCP to explain, saying “they cannot create a (power shortage) scenario for us to give in to privatization of the Agus and Pulangi.”
NGCP, however, is mainly a transmission firm that has no business generating power through any sources like hydroelectric facilities.
Mendoza also called for a review of the Epira.
“There is no El Niño, we have water. Because of this privatization, the NGCP now dictates on which power sources we should use—hydro or power barges,” the governor said.
Reports from Julie S. Alipala, Ryan D. Rosauro, Edwin O. Fernandez, Frinston Lim, Aquiles Zonio, Orlando B. Dinoy, Bobby Lagsa, Franklin Caliguid and Germelina Lacorte
