By Jovee Marie de la Cruz - November
16, 2017
The minority leader of the House of
Representatives on Thursday questioned the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) for the “suspicious” delay in the approval of contracts
of power-supply generators.
Rep. Danilo E. Suarez of the Third
District of Quezon, in a news statement, said the country might lose the
opportunity to address the alarming thinning power reserve due to the delays in
the approval of contracts of power-supply generators.
“The ERC must fast-track the
approval of the application for a power plant that would help generate
much-needed baseload in the country,” he said.
In a separate radio interview,
Suarez noted that the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines has recently
issued five yellow alerts, a situation when reserve power falls below the
required level.
“In fact, I find it puzzling why the
ERC has not yet approved contracts of power-supply generators, even if it has
already taken them at least five years to study their applications,” he added.
The lawmaker said the ERC was established
under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) as an independent,
quasi-judicial regulatory body.
“The commission’s job is to promote
competition, encourage market development, ensure customer choice and penalize
abuse of market power in the electricity industry. Unfortunately, it failed to
fulfill its mandate; and it has been merely duplicating the functions of the
Department of Energy,” Suarez added.
Meanwhile, Suarez asked the ERC to
explain the delays in the approval of the power-supply agreements (PSAs) of
Atimonan One, a proposed coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon.
He said the Atimonan One submitted
the application in 2012 as 1 of the 7 PSAs entered into with Manila Electric
Co. (Meralco), but still being evaluated by the ERC.
“Construction of new coal-fired
power plants is necessary because the existing coal-fired power plants are
outdated and insufficient, rendering them vulnerable to transmission failures,”
Suarez said.
“Power plants are not off-the-shelf
items: It takes seven to eight years to construct these before they become
fully operational,” he added.
Earlier, Meralco told lawmakers in a
hearing that there were actually more than 90 PSAs that were filed by different
distribution utilities and electric cooperatives following the ERC Resolution
restating the effectivity of the competitive selection process. However, some
of these PSAs are being questioned by lawmakers.
The Meralco’s PSA at ERC include
PSAs on the construction of coal-fired power plants with the following: Redondo
Peninsula Energy Inc. (225 megawatts [MW]; Atimonan One Energy Inc. (1,200 MW);
Saint Raphael Power Generation Corp. (400 MW); Central Luzon Premiere Power
Corp. (528 MW); Mariveles Power Generation Corp. (528 MW); Panay Energy
Development Corp. (70 MW); and Global Luzon Energy Development Corp. (600
MW).
“We are hopeful that the ERC can
approve at least 3 out of the 4 PSAs before the year ends. Should these PSAs do
not materialize, I will ask the leadership of the House to give it a zero
budget early next year,” Suarez said.
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