Power available in Davao del Sur but at a higher price

DIGOS CITY—Consumers here may continue to enjoy an uninterrupted supply of electricity despite the reported power crisis but they have to endure higher power cost, the Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (Dasureco) said.

Godofredo Guya, Dasureco general manager, said the power cooperative—like other Mindanao cooperatives—was struggling to prevent long hours of outages in a move that includes sourcing power from fuel-based sources.

Unless more sources are tapped, Guya said the supply of electricity to Dasureco’s 95,000 consumers will also be affected by the plan of the National Power Corp. to shut down the Pulangui 4 hydro system in Bukidnon for maintenance from April 9 to May 9.

“The plant shutdown will mean a 120-megawatt (MW) shortfall,” he said.

Even if the claim of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) of a 179-MW shortfall in Mindanao were true, Guya said the plant shutdown would result in a total 299-MW shortfall for the Mindanao grid.

He said this would mean the NGCP would have to implement more load curtailments that would burden the consumers even more with longer power outages.

“The expected gap is to be filled in by the entry of 100-MW more of available capacity from power barges 117 and 118,” he said.

Power barges 117 and 118, which utilize diesel fuel, are owned by Therma Marine Inc. (TMI), a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp.

Guya said the additional supply from TMI would mean Dasureco consumers would have to pay P10 per kilowatt hour from the current P9. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao