City Council opposes Veco pass-on hike

THE Cebu City Council is opposing a petition by the Visayan Electric Co.’s (Veco) to pass on to consumers the P34.2 million cost of repair of a transformer damaged by lightning

The cost would mean an increase in power prices by 5.92 centavos per kilowatt hour.

The council agreed to send Councilor Nestor Archival, an electrical engineer, as the city’s representative to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) public hearing on Aug. 14 in Cebu City.

Veco’s application seeks to recover the cost of repair of a transformer damaged by lightining in a thunderstorm last May 27.The transformer is located in the Cebu substation of the National Grid Corp.

If the application is approved, Veco will be authorized to add P0.592 per kwh in its bill to customers for three months.

The thunderstorm caused massive power inerruptions to Veco’s commercial, industrial and residential customers.

Archival said he and his committee members, Roberto Cabarrubias, Sisinio Andales, Alvin Dizon and Noel Wenceslao were prepared to attend the ERC consultations.

The committee said Veco should pay for the repair and re-installation of the transformer.

The public hearing on Aug. 14 will be held at 8:30 a.m. at the session hall in the 4th floor of the Legislative Building of City Hall.

The council’s energy committee reported that the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 requires that power generation company should be equipped with lightning protection devices.

“Inadequacy hereof implies negligence on the part of the service provider,” the committee said.

In Lapu-Lapu City, Pagasa Mactan said their facilities that were damaged by lightning would be fully operational next week.

Weather analyst Boy Arciaga said two of their five major equipment like the weather surveillance doppler radar and the meteorological satellite were restored by technicians from Manila last week.

Other facilities like the Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) and the Upper Air Radio Sounding System were still down, he said. “The AWOS provides air temperature data for pilots who need it for landing and takeoff, “ Arciaga said.

Arciaga said they had to phone their Manila office for meteorological data. He said repair costs for their weather surveillance doppler system alone are pegged at P48 million. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac and Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza