Group to fight power scheme

SUNSTAR CEBU

THE three-day public hearing on the implementation of the Wholesale Electricity Sport Market (WESM) in Visayas will start at the Energy Regulatory Commission 7 in Cebu City today.

The WESM is mandated by the Energy Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) to promote competition in the industry, in the hopes of bringing down power rates.

But if Lito Vasquez of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) national board of trustees is to be believed, the WESM has not been a success in Luzon since it was implemented there in June 2006.

No effect

“There had been price spikes in WESM even when supply was greater than demand in Luzon. In the Visayas, where supply situation is tight, how can we be sure that power-generating plants won’t abuse the market when they can raise their prices without fear of not being dispatched because supply is tight?” he said.

And even when there was excess supply (of power), there had been instances of power plants not being used or of unscheduled outages that resulted in an artificial shortage, he said.

This enabled market players to raise rates and rake in huge profit, Vas-quez said.

When sought for comment, Ethel Natera, corporate communications manager of the Visayan Electric Company (Veco), said there hasn’t been any power interruption in areas covered by Veco since WESM was implemented last Dec. 26.

“Any imbalance between supply and demand was covered by WESM. So far, prices have not gone up. In a few months, we can determine its true effects on Veco,” Natera said.

Not ready

FDC Cebu Secretary General Jose Aaron Ped-rosa yesterday said they will attend today’s public hearing to voice their objection to the implementation of WESM in Visayas.

He said the ERC should first investigate alleged price manipulations in Luzon.

“Even the World Bank revealed that Visayas is not ready for WESM due to the tight power supply in the grid,” he said.

ERC 7 Director Joel Bontuyan confirmed that FDC entered its intention to appear during the hearing.

Bontuyan said he doesn’t know yet if there are other groups who will be participating because the list was still in Manila, as of press time.

As early as 2007, Carlos Co of the Cebu Power Core Group said WESM will not be
effective in Cebu because there is no excess power.

Last December, Rep. Raymund Democrito Men-doza of the Trade Union Congress Party-list also objected to the implementation of WESM in the Visayas.

Mendoza said that while WESM was originally conceived under Epira as a mechanism to promote competitiveness, the trouble is both sellers (power generators) and buyers (power distribution utilities) come from the same oligarchs or big-time businessmen with allegedly strong political connections.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 08, 2011.