Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- November 4, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Energy
Regulatory Commission (ERC) has commenced its probe on Panay Electric Co.
(PECO) following a complaint of poorly maintained distribution lines from
Iloilo City’s mayor.
The power regulator started
investigations last week on a complaint filed by Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas
with Malacañang against the threat to public safety by “inadequately maintained
lines, power outages and hazardous electric posts” owned by PECO.
Treñas had asked the Office of the
President (OP) to direct the ERC to address mounting complaints against PECO,
listing down nine incidents of fire that hit PECO’s electricity poles from Oct.
19 to 21 alone based on the report of Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to City
Hall.
The Iloilo City mayor said he was
“obliged to take the necessary steps to address the needs of the people
considering that the problems and complaints raised against PECO have direct
impact not only on the property, but also to the lives of the residents of
Iloilo City.”
“While the attention of PECO had
been repeatedly called (by the Office of the City Mayor) to address the
(complaints), the city is still plagued by the same problems,” Treñas said in
his complaint to Malacañang.
Treñas said that as the agency
mandated under Republic Act 9136 or the Electricity Power Industry Reform Act
(EPIRA) to handle consumer complaints to ensure promotion of consumer
interests, the ERC had been given disciplinary powers to address the numerous
consumer complaints against PECO.
During the hearing, a briefing from
the BFP was conducted on the safety violation incidents involving PECO as the
new distribution utility, MORE Electric and Power Corp., raised the possibility
that the numerous pole fires and the prolonged power outages last week in
Iloilo City could be part of a deliberate sabotage of the law-mandated
transition of electricity distribution to its management from PECO.
The ERC investigation into the
safety standard violations of PECO coincided with another investigation by the
Department of Energy (DOE) into the twin power blackouts that hit the entire
Panay Island and parts of Negros Island from Monday to Wednesday last week.
The DOE probe also included a
complaint that PECO did not restore full supply to the entire city until
Wednesday evening despite full restoration of supply from the national
electricity grid in early morning of Wednesday, Jose Rey Maleza of DOE Visayas
said.
PECO’s franchise was not renewed by
Congress when it expired on Jan. 19 because of a huge outpour of consumer
complaints against PECO’s inadequate response to their problems, especially
safety concerns from its ageing distribution system like leaning electric
poles, spaghetti-like hanging electricity lines, over-billing that raised their
bills by as much as 1,000 percent, and unfriendly and unprofessional consumer
complaint personnel.
Instead, Congress granted the
distribution franchise to MORE Energy of port magnate Enrique Razon under
Republic Act 11212.
To ensure a smooth transition to
MORE Energy’s takeover of the distribution system, PECO was allowed by the DOE
and ERC to continue operating through its Certificate of Public Convenience and
Necessity (CPCN) until the new power player completes its transition to full
operations.
A CPCN requires a power utility to
ensure public safety and efficient supply service to the public.
MORE Energy has secured a go signal
from the Iloilo Regional Trial Court (ETC) to expropriate PECO’s assets, but
the 95-year old utility firm had asked a Mandaluyong RTC to stop the
expropriation.
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