By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated March 31, 2012 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Long-term solutions to the energy crisis in Mindanao are in place and there is no need to grant emergency powers to President Aquino, Malacañang said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Sen. Sergio Osmeña III has made clear why Mindanao is suffering from a power crisis and why residents must now pay more for electricity.
“By 2014, we already have sufficient power supply. It’s only 2012 and 2013, but those can be addressed right now with a blend of energy sources. So that’s the reason why he (Aquino) doesn’t see the need for emergency powers because in the long term, you already have those concerns addressed by 2014,” Lacierda said.
“We’re fixing the energy situation, we’re putting the power supplies. It’s just a matter of blending, at what cost will it be palatable to the people of Mindanao. So there’s a solution to that problem already and it’s a blending of costs of various sources of energy,” Lacierda said.
He added that electric cooperatives have already contracted power barges to supply additional electricity.
Osmeña said consumers in Mindanao have been “spoiled” over the last decade by subsidized power and would have to pay higher rates now that the power sector is in the “intensive care unit.”
“With respect to the power situation in Mindanao, we will be having a Mindanao summit that the President mentioned and he will be talking to the stakeholders in Mindanao,” Lacierda said.
“It’s a problem that Sen. Serge Osmeña has already outlined in his interview with the media and it shows where, what the government is doing. It also shows the cost of energy if all the sources of energy have blended in. And according to Serge Osmeña, it’s around 50 cents increase only,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said Mindanao had been enjoying the lowest power rates because of their hydroelectric power plants, thus it was exempted from privatization under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).
But when the Aquino administration came in, Lacierda said Energy Secretary Rene Almendras had made an assessment about the power situation in Mindanao and met with Mindanao lawmakers.
“He (Almendras) spoke to the power producers. It was only in 2011 that new power plants were constructed,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said some of the long-term solutions to the power crisis in Mindanao included the repair of the Agus 6 hydroelectric power complex and the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
He said they did not want to blame past administrations anymore and started the rehabilitation of Agus 6.
“I think, at present the Agus plant is only generating 30 percent of its capacity because of the (59-year-old) machines or engines. So that’s being rehabilitated. That should have been done before, but was not,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said there is no plan to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, especially in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan after an earthquake and tsunami last year.
“We have to restudy the whole issue on nuclear energy. The safety concerns are there,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said by 2014, there would be no power shortage in Mindanao because of the new power plants.
“It’s only 2012 and 2013, we need to address that and that’s the reason so why we need to put in the power barges and blend it with the other energy sources. The power barges are expensive if it’s used the whole time, and it’s not going to be used the whole 12 hours; it’s going to be used at peak hours and so that’s the reason why the costing will not be as high as feared. But certainly if you want to have power, you have to pay for power,” he said. Lacierda said the power summit was convened to deal with the concerns of all stakeholders, including local officials who were opposing some of the national government’s measures to address the power situation.
In some areas in Mindanao, Lacierda said there was power outage because of the financial constraints of cooperatives and problems on collection. “But overall, the Department of Energy has already done mandatory curtailment so the power outages (will be rotating),” he said.
Lacierda said the Mindanao situation would need the cooperation of everyone and it would not help if one local government official would be obstructionist.
He said Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo would make sure they were on board during the power summit after the Holy Week.
“And that’s the reason why we are urging everyone in Mindanao, all the stakeholders in Mindanao, to cooperate because there is a solution; it takes the cooperation of not only the people but also the local government officials in Mindanao,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sergio Dagooc, president of the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (Amreco), denied that the power crisis in the South is the fault of local electric cooperatives, contrary to the claims of Osmea and Almendras.
He said the reason the Amreco members are being blamed was the reluctance of the cooperatives to fully use 200-megawatt capacity generated by independent power producer Therma Marine Inc. in Mindanao.
Dagooc said said that the bulk of the power generated by Therma Marine’s two power barges have already been under contract to supply several other electric cooperatives. He said Therma Marine’s power is already being distributed to local customers by utilities Davao Light and Power Co. and Industrial Customers Phil. Sinter Corp.
Dagooc said he opposed the plan to sell the four government-owned power barges, which are in need of repairs, in May this year.
“If the government is serious in helping Mindanao, they should repair those power barges rather than have them privatized,” Dagooc said.
“It is not the electric cooperatives who are causing the power crisis in Mindanao, it is the wrong policy direction of the government,” he added. With Jigger Jerusalem
No comments:
Post a Comment