Myrna Velasco
December 2, 2013
Full restoration of electricity supply and services at typhoon-ravaged areas in Eastern Visayas will cost as much as P6.5 billion based on the final computation drawn up by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the affected distribution utilities.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said “we already capped it at P6.5 billion for both transmission and distribution,” but such will exclude yet the deployment of generator sets being the ‘quick fix” at providing power in these areas.
The bulk of the expenses, he said, will be on the account of the affected electric cooperatives. Momentarily, he noted that the National Electrification Administration (NEA) has been funneling required funding for repair and rehabilitation through its available on-lend facility.
The deadline the energy chief imposed for power restoration in the disaster-affected areas will be December 24 this year. Failing that, he offered his position as a trade-off, with his “I will resign” statement.
The cost recoveries for these repair works, he said, will be done through applications eventually with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) – at least for the costs not covered by insurance policies.
Petilla qualified that “the promise of having electricity by December 24” does not necessarily mean at all households, because some electric cooperatives may still not be able to fully restore their service then or some consumers may not agree to corresponding costs that will come with their electricity service re-connection.
He said the commitment they had would be to make ready the infrastructure — that once a DU would be ready to energize its franchise area, electricity service can be immediately restored.
If it can only be taken as a gauge, he noted that there had been areas that seemed impossible to be restored with power supply, like in the case of Tacloban, but so far the hurdles were overcome.
According to NGCP’s latest report, Tacloban was already energized Sunday but the line tripped due to some ‘technical fault’. Restoration has been re-scheduled anew at 2:00pm on Monday (December 2).
Other areas, according to the energy chief, will certainly be challenging on the electricity supply restoration track, but utmost efforts are being exerted to meet the December 24 deadline.
By then, he stressed that restoration could be at more than 50-percent at the transmission level; while its less than 50-percent at distribution level.
The energy chief averred that the important consideration he realized on the imposed deadline was not to compromise the safety of personnel involved in the supply restoration and facilities’ rehabilitation efforts. source
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