Occidental Mindoro gets 2-month free electricity from new power supply pact
Occidental Mindoro map. INQUIRER FILE
MANILA, Philippines — The national government will shoulder an additional two to three hours of electricity in Occidental Mindoro daily over the next two months as it rolls out its energy power supply agreement with DMCI Power Corp.
According to National Electrification Administration (NEA) administrator Antonio Almeda, the PSI power plant in San Jose will be tasked to provide an additional 5 megawatts (MW) to the province. The government’s calamity fund will pay for this.
“Iko-contract po namin itong PSI plant para makapagbigay ng additional 5 megawatts sa Occidental Mindoro at sasagutin po ng calamity fund ng presidente ang pagpapatakbo nito in the period of two months,” he explained.
(We will contract with the PSI plant to give an additional 5MW to Occidental Mindoro, and the president’s calamity fund will pay for this for two months.)
Almeda assured that the additional power would be free-of-charge to all ordinary power consumers and businesses in Occidental Mindoro.
“Pera po ng national government ang magbabayad diyan para to give time para sa DMCI [na] mainstall nila ang 17MW na magiging subject ng emergency power supply agreement,” said National Electrification Administration (NEA) administrator Antonio Almeda.
(The national government’s funds will pay for this to give DMCI time to install the 17MW subject to the emergency power supply agreement.)
The additional power will augment the current average of four hours of electricity in the province generated daily by its lone power supplier, Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. (OMCPC).
Additional generators for hospitals and schools
Besides the 5MW from PSI and 17MW from DMCI to be delivered over the next two months, the NEA has also discussed deploying additional 2MW generator sets to the province’s affected hospitals and schools.
“Ito po yung mga generator sets na binili noong 2013, nung mayroong Mindanao crisis. At iniisip po namin na ipadala isa o dalawa na generator sets para i-dedicate sa… mga ospital at paaralan, para naman po mabigyan po sila ng supisyenteng kuryente para sa kanilang operations,” explained Almeda.
(These were the generator sets purchased in 2013, under the Mindanao crisis. We are thinking of deploying one of two of these generator sets and dedicating them to hospitals and schools so that they might have sufficient electricity for their operations.)
The administrator noted, however, that NEA has yet to assess the “good working condition” of these generator sets, as it has been almost a decade since their acquisition and use.
‘Tulong sa bayan’
When asked about the electricity costs following the 17MW supply under the emergency agreement, Almeda said that NEA has asked for DMCI’s cooperation and goodwill regarding its power prices.
“Pinaki-usapan po namin sina DMCI na sana po ay true cost, tulong muna sa bayan… Pumayag naman po sila,” revealed the administrator.
(We have requested DMCI to charge only the actual cost for power as a contribution to the nation… They have agreed.)
Immediately after the two-month DMCI rollout, NEA plans to conduct a “competitive selection process” for power suppliers to cover the province’s 29MW capacity requirement.
“We are trying to move all sectors in the energy industry to help Occidental Mindoro,” Almeda said.
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