January 14, 2014 7:44 pm
BATANGAS CITY: President Benigno Aquino 3rd on Tuesday dismissed the warning of rotating brownouts by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) after it failed to implement its power rate increase.
In an interview, the President said that rotational brownouts were an unlikely scenario, saying that there are enough supply of power in Luzon.
“Well, naninigurado tayong hindi magkakaroon nitong rotating brownouts dahil, technically, meron tayo talagang enough of a supply, if not, even a surplus currently at least for Luzon [We would like assure that there will be no rotating brownouts because technically, we have enough of a supply, if not even a surplus currently at least for Luzon],” Aquino said.
He added that there will be “less brownouts” in Mindanao during the summer months, citing the “innovation” to be implemented by the Department of Energy “to address that perpetual cycle in Mindanao.”
The Supreme Court has temporarily stopped Meralco from implementing a P4.15 per kilowatt-hour power rate hike in December lasy year. However, Meralco warned that the whole power industry may be incapacitated should the TRO continue.
The President, on one hand, shrugged off observations that the TRO on the power increase might scare off investors.
He said that the government is doing everything to bring down electricity power rates to a reasonable level.
“How long can they advance with these increased expenditures because of the TRO? So we are hoping that there is a resolution,” Aquino said.
“We will provide the environment where a reasonable profit can happen and we have all of these competitors coming in,” he added. CATHERINE S. VALENTE source
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