P-Noy urged to speed up rate review

SOME Cebu business leaders lauded the move of President Benigno Aquino III to submit for review the recently approved Napocor generation rate increase for the Visayas.

The President said he would have a 60.60-centavo increase  reviewed by the Energy Regulatory Commission which earlier approved it for implementation in May.

Aquino mentioned this  in Friday’s 17th Electronics Forum held in Lapu-Lapu City, saying both the Palace and Congress need to determine if the power rate increases are warranted.

Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph told Cebu Daily News the  President Aquino should order the   ERC to conduct the review immediately.

“I believe in privatization and free markets and the more players there are in the power industry the more supply of power. The greater the supply of power the lower the price of electricity,” said Joseph.

The 60.60-centavo-per-kilowatt-hour rate increase for the Visayas was approved by the ERC last March 29 and will take effect next month.

The current power rate for the Visayas is  P4.0740 per kilowatt hour.

The Visayan Electric Company said it will wait for the ERC decsion.

Cebu  Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Prudencio Gesta said an increase in Napaocor’s generation rate would make it more expensive for investors to do business here.

Gesta said the Department of Energy (DOE) must order Napocor to improve its management to minimize systems loss and be more efficient in order to bring down power costs.

The export industry, which is slowly recovering from the recent economic crisis affecting major markets in the US and Europe.

Philexport Cebu Executive Director Fred Escalona said a higher power costs along with a  wage increase would only worsen conditions for the country’s business climate.

Eric Ng Mendoza, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, said the government should take a closer look at the power generation rates and how they are computed.

“Allow more private investments in power using renewable and greener solutions and rehabilitate and retire obsolete and already inefficient power generators,” Ng said.