Special powers’ target: Deals with power firms

The energy department has a ready use for special powers if these are given President Aquino to deal with Mindanao’s power shortage—buy electricity from private power producers.

Jose Rene Almendras, energy secretary, said armed with special powers, the Chief Executive could start tapping electricity from four diesel-fired power barges owned by a private firm in Mindanao.

The four barges have a combined capacity of 128 megawatts, but the projected electricity deficit in Mindanao has reached 179 MW, according to Almendras.

The deficit could grow, said Almendras, as a major source of power in Mindanao, the Pulangi hydropower facility, would be shut down starting April 9 for maintenance and repairs.

A militant lawmaker, however, said there was no need to arm Mr. Aquino with special powers to solve the Mindanao crisis.

Rep. Teddy Casiño, of the party-list group Bayan Muna, said arming the President with special powers for the Mindanao crisis was a “knee-jerk and palliative” reaction.

A similar move made during the Ramos administration, Casiño said, only led to the government being tied up with “onerous, sweetheart contracts” with independent power producers.

Special powers, said Casiño, could lead to shortcuts in contracts that should otherwise go through public bidding.

According to Almendras, special powers could allow the National Power Corp. and Power Sectors Assets Liabilities and Management Corp. to enter into power supply agreements with generation companies.

Almendras said if no additional power is contracted while Pulangi undergoes maintenance, brownouts in Mindanao could last up to four hours a day. Brownouts currently last an hour to two hours a day.

The energy department, said Almendras, was looking at 25 additional megawatts should the Agus 6 hydropower facility be back online. He said six power supply agreements were also  in the works to tap power barges for an additional 100 MW.

There is no guarantee, however, that the projected additional power would be available by the time Pulangi is shut down, according to Almendras.

He said consumers would have to bear additional costs, however, should more electricity be bought from private firms.

Generation charge, said Almendras, would increase by 50 to 80 centavos per kilowatt hour from the current P3.30

per kWh.

The grant of special powers to the President to deal with power shortages is provided by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), according to Almendras.

“The only way to solve the [power supply] shortage [in Mindanao] is to bring in power that is more expensive,” said Almendras.

By 2014, he said, several power projects could be completed and be able to deliver at least 250 MW in additional electricity. Some of these, however, have yet to secure permits from local governments and secure acceptance by communities.

“We’ve been saying that the situation in Mindanao would call for the need to build power generation facilities,” said Almendras.

“Back in 2010, we already said we needed 500 MW of non hydropower generation,” he said.

Other members of Mr. Aquino’s official family, as expected, gave positive responses to the proposal to arm the President with special powers specifically for the Mindanao crisis.

Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson, said that while Almendras and other officials were seeking solutions to the crisis, Malacañang was studying the proposal to arm Mr. Aquino with special powers.

After a weekend meeting on the crisis, Mr. Aquino was quoted as appealing for patience from the people of Mindanao.

“We admit it, the problem was neglected,” the President said in a speech he made on the sides of the birthday celebration of Cavite Rep. Erineo Maliksi which Mr. Aquino attended.

The President laid part of the blame on the aging hydropower structures in Mindanao. One of these, Agus, had been built 60 years ago, said Mr. Aquino. It wasn’t clear where Mr. Aquino got his information, but he said the facility was expected to be in good operating form for only 30 years.

“I did think that if 30 years ago, when I was still a college student, they had fixed this problem, then I would not have this problem,” the President said.

Rehabilitating Agus would cost P2.6 billion and take 30 months to finish.

Two coal-fired plants, said the President, would be built in the next two years to generate more power for Mindanao.

But while these projects are still in the pipeline, the President said consumers in Mindanao might have to bear the higher cost of power generated by diesel-fueled power barges, one of which is currently being tapped.

“If we don’t want brownouts, we will have to accept this,” the President said. Consumers, he said, “will have to share the burden.” With a report from Cynthia Balana