Davao Sur consumers to pay higher for stable supply of power

DIGOS CITY—Consumers in Davao del Sur are now assured of uninterrupted supply of electricity but at a cost.

According to the Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (Dasureco), power supply is now stable in the province and the days of rotating brownouts are now a thing of the past.

This was made possible by the use of modular generator sets that would add 15 megawatts to the supply of power that Dasureco is distributing.

Consumers, however, have to pay an additional P1.50 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for their electricity.

More than 60,000 consumers covered by the Dasureco franchise area suffered from daily power outages of up to two hours for months because of maintenance work on existing plants and other reasons.

Many businesses in the province had suffered losses as a result of the outages.

Engineer Godofredo Guya, Dasureco general manager, said with the commissioning of the generator sets, which were put up under the government’s Interruptible Load Program (ILP), is a major solution to the energy crisis besetting Mindanao since February.

But Guya admitted the use of the generators would also result in an increase of P1.50/kWh in the electric bills of consumers.

This meant, he said, that if a consumer paid P100 per month before the commissioning of the generators, the consumer will now have to pay at least P130 per month.

Guya said the additional charges could still increase if the generators are operated too long.

“I urge the public to minimize their consumption because their payment will be calculated based on the running hours of these gensets,” he said. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao