Malacañang says solution found to fill Occidental Mindoro power shortage
(File photo)Linemen in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro, inspect and repair power lines and transformers even as the province suffers from outages lasting several hours a day. —PHOTO FROM OCCIDENTAL MINDORO ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE FACEBOOK PAGE
MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Friday (April 28) said a solution has been found to bring stable electric supply back to Occidental Mindoro—operate three power stations.
The province has been suffering from prolonged power outages, with up to 20-hour daily brownouts. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. had made it one of his campaign promises to solve this crisis.
READ: Bongbong Marcos vows to address Occ. Mindoro power supply woes
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) announced the solution in a statement issued one year after Marcos made the promise.
On Thursday (April 27), National Electrification Administration (NEA) chief Antonio Mariano Almeda met with Luis Manuel Banzon, owner of Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp (OMCPC) to figure a way out of the crisis.
“During the meeting, the two parties agreed to run the three power stations of OMCPC to address the current power supply concerns of the province,” said the PCO in a statement.
These power stations were:
- Sablayan
- Mamburao, Paluan, Sta. Cruz, and Abra de Ilog (Mapsa)
- San Jose, Magsaysay, Rizal, Calitaan (Samarica)
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has given conditional approval for power supply agreements with Sablayan and Mapsa while that with Samarica is pending approval, according to PCO.
Prior to the agreement, the OMCPC was running only Samarica and not the other two power stations.
“It was determined that the apparent reason why OMCPC was not operating its Sablayan and Mapsa power plants was due to the issue of whether OMCPC’s fuel cost is a pass-through cost,” said the PCO.
Almeda, however, ordered the OMCPC to run all three facilities “notwithstanding any potential financial losses to Banzon and despite not having an approved rate from the ERC for the Samarica power plant which would allow him to recoup his cost of operations.”
The PCO said that there have since been no reports from NEA of brownouts in the province.
TSB
