By Iris Gonzales (The Philippine Star) | Updated March 5, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will refund power consumers who have paid the deferred electricity charges as indicated in its enhanced billing statements. The deferred charges were the subject of the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court in December on the P4.15 per kilowatt-hour power rate hike the power company sought to implement.
In a letter dated March 3 to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Meralco said it would refund its customers who may have been confused with the deferred amount component of the enhanced bill.
“We recognize the recent feedback concerning the issues on the deferred amount and total amount due for payment. This March 2014 billing, the deferred amount will no longer be included in the total amount due and an advisory will clarify and inform customers on what amounts to pay,” Meralco said in the letter.
“For customers who paid the deferred amount, Meralco will implement a refund equivalent to the same amount as credit to the bill starting March 2014. They will be advised that the refunded amount representing a portion of their December 2013 bill may still be subjected to adjustments upon final resolution of the SC TRO,” it said.
The ERC earlier called the attention of Meralco after enhancements in its billing statements created confusion among its customers.
In the enhanced billing statements issued to customers, Meralco put a deferred payment component, which is the difference between the amount originally billed for December and the amount actually paid by the customer after the SC issued the TRO.
It said it has no intention to confuse or mislead consumers into paying the amount covered by the TRO, as it expressed regret for the confusion that the inclusion of the deferred amount may have caused.
Meralco’s December bill was supposed to be P9.10 per kwh, earlier approved to be collected in three installments.
But the TRO prompted Meralco to peg the December bill at P5.67 per kwh or equivalent to the November bill.
The issue has yet to be resolved.
Meralco’s new petition opposed
Representatives of party-list group Akbayan are opposing Manila Electric Company (Meralco)’s new rate increase petition filed with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Meralco wants to increase its generation charge by 84 centavos per kilowatt-hour starting with next month’s billing to recover fuel costs amounting to over P2 billion, and 74 centavos for five months starting in April.
The adjustments are on top of the P4.15 per kwh hike the Supreme Court has frozen in December by issuing a restraining order.
Akbayan filed its opposition yesterday with the ERC, whose chairman, former Pampanga Rep. Zenaida Ducut, it wants ousted.
The group has lodged an administrative complaint against Ducut with the Office of the President.
Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said they are opposing Meralco’s new filing, noting the generation charges – which Meralco sought to pass on to its customers – are the result of the same collusion, abuse of market power and manipulation of prices in the wholesale electricity spot market.
“Meralco’s plan to burden the consumers with a new round of rate hike amid an ongoing battle regarding the legality of its proposed record high P4.15 power rate hike betrays its lack of empathy toward their customers. This is the height of abuse and impunity. We will not allow it,” he said. – With Jess Diaz, Delon Porcalla source
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Extended brownouts to continue in Mindanao
Posted on March 04, 2014 11:26:49 PM
By Claire-Ann C. Feliciano, Reporter
MINDANAO RESIDENTS will have to continue dealing with rotating brownouts as repairs to a 210-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant, which accounts for around a fifth of the island’s power supply, are expected to take a "substantial amount of time."
STEAG State Power, Inc. (SPI), the plant’s owner and operator, said it would take weeks to complete work at the Misamis Oriental facility, which tripped -- along with other power plants -- and caused a Mindanao-wide outage last Thursday.
The Energy department has said two- to three-hour brownouts would persist as long as the STEAG plant remained offline. SPI said the plant’s two 105-MW units sustained heavy damage to their turbine generating sets.
"Based on the initial results of the ongoing inspection and comprehensive technical evaluation of the turbine units, SPI will need substantial amount of time to restore the units back online," the firm announced. SPI Power Plant Manager Carsten Evers said "the repair of the units may last for several weeks or more."
"We understand and recognize the precarious and very volatile power supply condition of Mindanao and we would like to assure all our stakeholders, especially the power consumers, that SPI is working round-the-clock to restore the units back online," Mr. Evers added.
A more definite schedule is expected to be announced in the next few days. "SPI will provide periodic updates on the progress and development of the restoration works and is working closely with the Department of Energy (DoE), the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and other members of the energy sector of Mindanao in addressing the issue," the company noted.
Napocor, in a separate statement, said it was continuing to work with the Energy department in identifying the blackout’s cause.
Last Friday, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines traced the outage to a malfunction of one of the circuit breakers of the Agus 1 hydroelectric power plant in Lanao del Sur.
"The NPC (Napocor) has already submitted the data logs of its power plants in Mindanao to the DoE," Napocor President Gladys Cruz-Sta. Rita yesterday said.
The data logs are expected to help identify the sequence of events that led to the tripping of Mindanao’s power plants.
"We are working closely with other electric power stakeholders in order to ensure the seamless operations of the state-owned power plants in Mindanao that contributes to the power supply adequacy and reliability of the Mindanao grid," Ms. Cruz-Sta. Rita added.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, meanwhile, said in a text message: "We will issue a circular instructing the operation of all existing generating capacity in Mindanao."
The system-wide Mindanao outage came less than a year after significant parts of Luzon experienced a 10-hour blackout. The cause of that outage was attributed to a transmission line malfunction. source
By Claire-Ann C. Feliciano, Reporter
MINDANAO RESIDENTS will have to continue dealing with rotating brownouts as repairs to a 210-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant, which accounts for around a fifth of the island’s power supply, are expected to take a "substantial amount of time."
STEAG State Power, Inc. (SPI), the plant’s owner and operator, said it would take weeks to complete work at the Misamis Oriental facility, which tripped -- along with other power plants -- and caused a Mindanao-wide outage last Thursday.
The Energy department has said two- to three-hour brownouts would persist as long as the STEAG plant remained offline. SPI said the plant’s two 105-MW units sustained heavy damage to their turbine generating sets.
"Based on the initial results of the ongoing inspection and comprehensive technical evaluation of the turbine units, SPI will need substantial amount of time to restore the units back online," the firm announced. SPI Power Plant Manager Carsten Evers said "the repair of the units may last for several weeks or more."
"We understand and recognize the precarious and very volatile power supply condition of Mindanao and we would like to assure all our stakeholders, especially the power consumers, that SPI is working round-the-clock to restore the units back online," Mr. Evers added.
A more definite schedule is expected to be announced in the next few days. "SPI will provide periodic updates on the progress and development of the restoration works and is working closely with the Department of Energy (DoE), the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and other members of the energy sector of Mindanao in addressing the issue," the company noted.
Napocor, in a separate statement, said it was continuing to work with the Energy department in identifying the blackout’s cause.
Last Friday, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines traced the outage to a malfunction of one of the circuit breakers of the Agus 1 hydroelectric power plant in Lanao del Sur.
"The NPC (Napocor) has already submitted the data logs of its power plants in Mindanao to the DoE," Napocor President Gladys Cruz-Sta. Rita yesterday said.
The data logs are expected to help identify the sequence of events that led to the tripping of Mindanao’s power plants.
"We are working closely with other electric power stakeholders in order to ensure the seamless operations of the state-owned power plants in Mindanao that contributes to the power supply adequacy and reliability of the Mindanao grid," Ms. Cruz-Sta. Rita added.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, meanwhile, said in a text message: "We will issue a circular instructing the operation of all existing generating capacity in Mindanao."
The system-wide Mindanao outage came less than a year after significant parts of Luzon experienced a 10-hour blackout. The cause of that outage was attributed to a transmission line malfunction. source
IFC, Thomas Lloyd set $330-M lending facility for RE projects
Manila Bulletin
by Myrna Velasco March 4, 2014
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and Europe’s Thomas Lloyd Group Ltd. have inked a mandate-letter for the provision of $330-million lending portfolio for renewable energy (RE) projects in the Philippines.
This will be in the form of senior debt through the managed co-lending portfolio program and other associated IFC funding facilities.
A press statement noted that the facility “will augment the $87 million of development and construction capital already deployed or committed by the Thomas Lloyd Group of Companies and the Thomas Lloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund.”
The credit window provided by both lending institutions, as emphasized, “will be used to construct and operate a portfolio of three solar facilities and three biomass facilities” in Negros.
IFC and Thomas Lloyd Group said the transaction could be a platform for expanding investments in the Philippine renewable energy sector.
According to Thomas Lloyd executive director and head of project finance Tony Coveney, “the Philippines provided a great opportunity for both us and the IFC to bring permanent jobs and sustainable energy supply to the country,” stressing further that such initiative could hopefully bring power supply to somehow-neglected local communities.
Considerably, RE is a sunshine industry with some promise to augment the country’s teetering power supply and solution to many blackout ridden off-grid areas.
IFC had indicated serious interest to bankroll RE projects in the Philippines, although at some point, it raised reservations when government had been fickle on its rules-crafting and policy enforcements.
Thomas Lloyd, for its part, has been advising and financing development of RE facilities in the country for the past five years already.
Its “lending fingerprints” had been etched on the 22-megawatt solar power project of San Carlos Solar Energy Inc., which is targeted for completion this month.
“This will be the first utility-scale renewable energy project built in the country to take advantage of the feed-in-tariff introduced by the government under the Renewable Energy Act,” the European investment firm averred.
ThomasLloyd was also instrumental in financing the 19.99MW biomass power facility of San Carlos Biopower Inc., another project vehicle under Bronzeoak Philippines.
From this venture, several more renewable energy projects are expected to take off, especially those already blueprinted in Negros sites. source
by Myrna Velasco March 4, 2014
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and Europe’s Thomas Lloyd Group Ltd. have inked a mandate-letter for the provision of $330-million lending portfolio for renewable energy (RE) projects in the Philippines.
This will be in the form of senior debt through the managed co-lending portfolio program and other associated IFC funding facilities.
A press statement noted that the facility “will augment the $87 million of development and construction capital already deployed or committed by the Thomas Lloyd Group of Companies and the Thomas Lloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund.”
The credit window provided by both lending institutions, as emphasized, “will be used to construct and operate a portfolio of three solar facilities and three biomass facilities” in Negros.
IFC and Thomas Lloyd Group said the transaction could be a platform for expanding investments in the Philippine renewable energy sector.
According to Thomas Lloyd executive director and head of project finance Tony Coveney, “the Philippines provided a great opportunity for both us and the IFC to bring permanent jobs and sustainable energy supply to the country,” stressing further that such initiative could hopefully bring power supply to somehow-neglected local communities.
Considerably, RE is a sunshine industry with some promise to augment the country’s teetering power supply and solution to many blackout ridden off-grid areas.
IFC had indicated serious interest to bankroll RE projects in the Philippines, although at some point, it raised reservations when government had been fickle on its rules-crafting and policy enforcements.
Thomas Lloyd, for its part, has been advising and financing development of RE facilities in the country for the past five years already.
Its “lending fingerprints” had been etched on the 22-megawatt solar power project of San Carlos Solar Energy Inc., which is targeted for completion this month.
“This will be the first utility-scale renewable energy project built in the country to take advantage of the feed-in-tariff introduced by the government under the Renewable Energy Act,” the European investment firm averred.
ThomasLloyd was also instrumental in financing the 19.99MW biomass power facility of San Carlos Biopower Inc., another project vehicle under Bronzeoak Philippines.
From this venture, several more renewable energy projects are expected to take off, especially those already blueprinted in Negros sites. source
Meralco ready to refund bill ‘overpayment’
Business Mirror
04 Mar 2014
Written by Lenie Lectura
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is ready to refund customers who had earlier opted to pay an amount representing the “deferred amount” reflected in their February bills.
“We recognize the recent feedback received concerning the issues on the Deferred Amount and Total Amount Due for payment. Thus, in the coming March 2014 billing, the Deferred Amount will no longer be included in the Total Amount Due and an advisory on the bill will be made to further clarify and inform customers on what amounts to pay upon receipt of their electricity bills,” Meralco first Vice President and Head of the Regulatory Management Office Ivanna de la Peña said in a letter to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“Furthermore, for customers who who had earlier opted to pay an amount representing the Deferred Amount, Meralco will implement a refund equivalent to said amount as credit to bill starting March 2014,” added de la Peña.
The ERC has called the attention of Meralco because the utility firm’s enhanced billing format has caused confusion with respect to the amount that should be paid.
“Changes introduced in the bill, particularly, Meralco’s move to reflect therein under heading Total Amount Due the supposed ‘balance from previous billing,’ which is a subject of the pending Supreme Court (SC) petitions questioning the same has caused a lot of confusion among the affected customers as to which amount they should actually pay,” the ERC told Meralco.
De la Peña said the inclusion of the amount “Deferred, pending resolution of the SC temporary restraining order [TRO]” was to inform customers of the difference between their December 2013 bill and their actual payment on such bill. Nonetheless, she stressed that the amount remains “Deferred, pending resolution of the SC TRO.”
“This was undertaken for transparency and for record purposes and it was never Meralco’s intent that the customer pay the amount labelled “Deferred, pending resolution of the SC TRO. We emphasize that Meralco has no intention of confusing our customers and/or mislead them into paying the amount covered by the SC TRO. We regret the confusion that the inclusion of the Deferred Amount in the Total Amount Due may have caused,” de la Peña said.
The TRO involved Meralco’s P4.15 per kilowatt-hour rate hike in the December billing of customers.
Meralco said it included the deferred charges in the total amount due to consumers despite the TRO to reflect the customer’s current charges and any unpaid balance from previous billing or billings under said customer’s account, which may include the deferred amount.
“Our billing system automatically computes all amounts billed by Meralco, both Current Charges Due and the amounts from previous billings, which remain unpaid. Since some customers were billed prior to the SC TRO but may have paid only an amount equivalent to their November 2013 bills (where generation charge was at P5.6673 per kWh) after the SC TRO, the Deferred Amount will automatically be reflected as part of the Total Amount Due,” de la Peña said. source
04 Mar 2014
Written by Lenie Lectura
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is ready to refund customers who had earlier opted to pay an amount representing the “deferred amount” reflected in their February bills.
“We recognize the recent feedback received concerning the issues on the Deferred Amount and Total Amount Due for payment. Thus, in the coming March 2014 billing, the Deferred Amount will no longer be included in the Total Amount Due and an advisory on the bill will be made to further clarify and inform customers on what amounts to pay upon receipt of their electricity bills,” Meralco first Vice President and Head of the Regulatory Management Office Ivanna de la Peña said in a letter to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“Furthermore, for customers who who had earlier opted to pay an amount representing the Deferred Amount, Meralco will implement a refund equivalent to said amount as credit to bill starting March 2014,” added de la Peña.
The ERC has called the attention of Meralco because the utility firm’s enhanced billing format has caused confusion with respect to the amount that should be paid.
“Changes introduced in the bill, particularly, Meralco’s move to reflect therein under heading Total Amount Due the supposed ‘balance from previous billing,’ which is a subject of the pending Supreme Court (SC) petitions questioning the same has caused a lot of confusion among the affected customers as to which amount they should actually pay,” the ERC told Meralco.
De la Peña said the inclusion of the amount “Deferred, pending resolution of the SC temporary restraining order [TRO]” was to inform customers of the difference between their December 2013 bill and their actual payment on such bill. Nonetheless, she stressed that the amount remains “Deferred, pending resolution of the SC TRO.”
“This was undertaken for transparency and for record purposes and it was never Meralco’s intent that the customer pay the amount labelled “Deferred, pending resolution of the SC TRO. We emphasize that Meralco has no intention of confusing our customers and/or mislead them into paying the amount covered by the SC TRO. We regret the confusion that the inclusion of the Deferred Amount in the Total Amount Due may have caused,” de la Peña said.
The TRO involved Meralco’s P4.15 per kilowatt-hour rate hike in the December billing of customers.
Meralco said it included the deferred charges in the total amount due to consumers despite the TRO to reflect the customer’s current charges and any unpaid balance from previous billing or billings under said customer’s account, which may include the deferred amount.
“Our billing system automatically computes all amounts billed by Meralco, both Current Charges Due and the amounts from previous billings, which remain unpaid. Since some customers were billed prior to the SC TRO but may have paid only an amount equivalent to their November 2013 bills (where generation charge was at P5.6673 per kWh) after the SC TRO, the Deferred Amount will automatically be reflected as part of the Total Amount Due,” de la Peña said. source
Mindanao rural electric cooperatives to confront NGCP on additional power cuts
Business Mirror
04 Mar 2014 Written by Manuel T. Cayon
DAVAO CITY—The Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (Amreco) said it would confront the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) over additional power cuts above the programmed curtailment that it imposed.
Sergio Dagooc, Amreco chairman, told the BusinessMirror on Tuesday that Amreco board members would discuss the situation of electric cooperatives in Mindanao over the “sudden and unannounced” power- supply shutdown in the middle of programmed rotating brownouts that started on February 28.
“It has become a daily happening when NGCP would suddenly shut down power even if we are already following the NGCP imposition to operate within our mandated load to maintain,” he said.
“So, it is difficult to say for now how long do we experience brownouts, because on certain hours NGCP would also cut power supply to us,” he said. In the case of his electric cooperative on Siargo Island, Surigao del Norte, “NGCP would suddenly, and without information, cut power supply to us, and this forces us to schedule the rotating brownouts even if we don’t need to do it because we have enough supply to go around.”
He said the Amreco board would meet on Wednesday to discuss and gather the data of common experience of its 27 members connected to the Mindanao grid.
The Amreco has a total membership of 33, but six of its island electric cooperatives are not connected to the mainland grid. He said the NGCP would cut power supply going to the feeder stations, where two or more electric cooperatives are connected.
“So, electric cooperatives that did not need to be imposed additional curtailment would suffer the same consequence as the one or two cooperatives just because we share the same feeder connection.”
Then NGCP has not come out with official explanation about the additional power-supply shutdowns done during peak hours, calls to its offices and officials were left unanswered.
Amreco said it would also file its complaint during a congressional hearing on a move to recall the implementation of the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market on Wednesday in Cagayan de Oro City. Dagooc said Amreco has no information yet on the length of rotating brownouts in each of the franchise areas of its members but he said it would be on the average from two to three hours.
“But the additional power-supply cut would have another effect of between one-and-a-half hours to two hours to the average hours of brownouts.” Usually, it would be Zamboanga City which suffers longer brownouts, “because they don’t have additional sources of power supply, but I think it would not as long as eight hours as before due to its acquisition of power generators.”
“There are areas, however, which do not experience brownouts becauase they have additional sources, like the two franchise areas in Misamis Oriental,” he said.
The province has recently tapped the 11 megawatts (MW) generated by a new plant in Gingoog City.
But Davao City, which has additional sources from its two mini-hydroelectric power plants in Davao del Sur and its diesel-fired Bajada Power Plant, had announced it was imposing rotating brownouts.
In the NGCP daily bulletin on Tuesday, it said Mindanao was having a negative reserve supply, ranging from 86 MW to 96 MW.
As of early morning Tuesday, system capacity of the grid was 1,022 MW, while system peak demand was 1,108 MW. However, the net system reserve in the Mindanao grid ran to as high as 360 MW between 11 a.m. and 12 noon. source
04 Mar 2014 Written by Manuel T. Cayon
DAVAO CITY—The Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (Amreco) said it would confront the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) over additional power cuts above the programmed curtailment that it imposed.
Sergio Dagooc, Amreco chairman, told the BusinessMirror on Tuesday that Amreco board members would discuss the situation of electric cooperatives in Mindanao over the “sudden and unannounced” power- supply shutdown in the middle of programmed rotating brownouts that started on February 28.
“It has become a daily happening when NGCP would suddenly shut down power even if we are already following the NGCP imposition to operate within our mandated load to maintain,” he said.
“So, it is difficult to say for now how long do we experience brownouts, because on certain hours NGCP would also cut power supply to us,” he said. In the case of his electric cooperative on Siargo Island, Surigao del Norte, “NGCP would suddenly, and without information, cut power supply to us, and this forces us to schedule the rotating brownouts even if we don’t need to do it because we have enough supply to go around.”
He said the Amreco board would meet on Wednesday to discuss and gather the data of common experience of its 27 members connected to the Mindanao grid.
The Amreco has a total membership of 33, but six of its island electric cooperatives are not connected to the mainland grid. He said the NGCP would cut power supply going to the feeder stations, where two or more electric cooperatives are connected.
“So, electric cooperatives that did not need to be imposed additional curtailment would suffer the same consequence as the one or two cooperatives just because we share the same feeder connection.”
Then NGCP has not come out with official explanation about the additional power-supply shutdowns done during peak hours, calls to its offices and officials were left unanswered.
Amreco said it would also file its complaint during a congressional hearing on a move to recall the implementation of the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market on Wednesday in Cagayan de Oro City. Dagooc said Amreco has no information yet on the length of rotating brownouts in each of the franchise areas of its members but he said it would be on the average from two to three hours.
“But the additional power-supply cut would have another effect of between one-and-a-half hours to two hours to the average hours of brownouts.” Usually, it would be Zamboanga City which suffers longer brownouts, “because they don’t have additional sources of power supply, but I think it would not as long as eight hours as before due to its acquisition of power generators.”
“There are areas, however, which do not experience brownouts becauase they have additional sources, like the two franchise areas in Misamis Oriental,” he said.
The province has recently tapped the 11 megawatts (MW) generated by a new plant in Gingoog City.
But Davao City, which has additional sources from its two mini-hydroelectric power plants in Davao del Sur and its diesel-fired Bajada Power Plant, had announced it was imposing rotating brownouts.
In the NGCP daily bulletin on Tuesday, it said Mindanao was having a negative reserve supply, ranging from 86 MW to 96 MW.
As of early morning Tuesday, system capacity of the grid was 1,022 MW, while system peak demand was 1,108 MW. However, the net system reserve in the Mindanao grid ran to as high as 360 MW between 11 a.m. and 12 noon. source
SouthCot rep wants probe of renewed rotational brownouts
By Mindanews on March 3 2014 6:05 pm
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 3 March) – South Cotabato Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez (Second Dist.) will push for a congressional investigation into the renewed long rotational brownouts that have been affecting parts of Mindanao since last week.
Hernandez said Monday he will ask leaders of the House of Representatives to set an inquiry over the latest spate of three- to eight-hour daily brownouts that came after a Mindanao-wide power outage last Thursday.
He said the move is aimed to determine the real cause of the outages and determine the necessary interventions by government agencies.
“These brownouts are quite alarming already so we really need to get into the bottom of the problem and address it,” he said in a radio interview.
Hernandez, who is a former trade and tourism assistant secretary, said the brownouts have so far started to take its toll on local residents, especially the business sector.
He said a number of businesses have been experiencing huge losses due to the impact of the brownouts and the use of fuel-fed generators.
Among the areas hit hardest by the continuing brownouts are this city and parts of Region 12. The region comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
Power supply in many parts of Mindanao was cut off for several hours last Thursday due to the reported tripping at the Agus 1 hydroelectric plant in Marawi City, according to the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
The DOE and NGCP noted that the power failure started from a faulty breaker in the switchyard of Agus 1. The breaker or the switchyard links a power plant to the transmission network.
The NGCP has since restored power transmission in various parts of Mindanao but it said the area is presently experiencing a supply deficit of 300 to 450 megawatts (MW).
Prior to the Mindanao-wide outage last Thursday, the company placed the island’s power reserve at 2 MW.
But based on its power situation outlook for Monday, it said Mindanao’s system capacity is only at 963 MW or 326 MW short of its system peak of 1,289 MW.
As a result of the deficit, the South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (Socoteco II) was forced to implement rotating brownouts lasting three hours daily for its four feeder groupings in the last three days.
Socoteco II serves this city, the seven municipalities of Sarangani Province and the towns of Polomolok and Tupi in South Cotabato.
In Socoteco I’s franchise area, which covers Lutayan town in Sultan Kudarat, Koronadal City and eight municipalities of South Cotabato, the electric cooperative has been implementing daily rotating outages of three to five hours.
Santiago Tudio, Socoteco I general manager, said Monday they could not say as to when they would implement the rotating brownouts.
But he said they are currently working for the release by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) of the certificate of compliance (COC) for their leased 12-MW diesel-fired modular generator sets.
Tudio said ERC officials gave their go-signal last Thursday for the temporary use of the generator sets pending the release of COC but its operator, Aggreko Inc., and Mapalad Power Corporation (MPC) decided against it.
“We might still get slapped with a show cause order by ERC and possibly get fined or even imprisoned for it so we just decided to wait for the issuance of the COC,” he said.
Socoteco 1 initially commissioned the generator sets in October last year but was stopped by the NGCP due to the lack of a grid plan and the delayed issuance of the COC from the ERC.
Tudio said they were advised by the legal department of the Alcantara-controlled MPC that the ERC will finally deliberate this week the “possible issuance” of the COC for the generator sets.
In this city, Socoteco II has not been able to utilize its leased 15-MW generator sets from operator SoEnergy Philippines Inc. since its installation in September last year due to permitting problems. source
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 3 March) – South Cotabato Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez (Second Dist.) will push for a congressional investigation into the renewed long rotational brownouts that have been affecting parts of Mindanao since last week.
Hernandez said Monday he will ask leaders of the House of Representatives to set an inquiry over the latest spate of three- to eight-hour daily brownouts that came after a Mindanao-wide power outage last Thursday.
He said the move is aimed to determine the real cause of the outages and determine the necessary interventions by government agencies.
“These brownouts are quite alarming already so we really need to get into the bottom of the problem and address it,” he said in a radio interview.
Hernandez, who is a former trade and tourism assistant secretary, said the brownouts have so far started to take its toll on local residents, especially the business sector.
He said a number of businesses have been experiencing huge losses due to the impact of the brownouts and the use of fuel-fed generators.
Among the areas hit hardest by the continuing brownouts are this city and parts of Region 12. The region comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
Power supply in many parts of Mindanao was cut off for several hours last Thursday due to the reported tripping at the Agus 1 hydroelectric plant in Marawi City, according to the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
The DOE and NGCP noted that the power failure started from a faulty breaker in the switchyard of Agus 1. The breaker or the switchyard links a power plant to the transmission network.
The NGCP has since restored power transmission in various parts of Mindanao but it said the area is presently experiencing a supply deficit of 300 to 450 megawatts (MW).
Prior to the Mindanao-wide outage last Thursday, the company placed the island’s power reserve at 2 MW.
But based on its power situation outlook for Monday, it said Mindanao’s system capacity is only at 963 MW or 326 MW short of its system peak of 1,289 MW.
As a result of the deficit, the South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (Socoteco II) was forced to implement rotating brownouts lasting three hours daily for its four feeder groupings in the last three days.
Socoteco II serves this city, the seven municipalities of Sarangani Province and the towns of Polomolok and Tupi in South Cotabato.
In Socoteco I’s franchise area, which covers Lutayan town in Sultan Kudarat, Koronadal City and eight municipalities of South Cotabato, the electric cooperative has been implementing daily rotating outages of three to five hours.
Santiago Tudio, Socoteco I general manager, said Monday they could not say as to when they would implement the rotating brownouts.
But he said they are currently working for the release by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) of the certificate of compliance (COC) for their leased 12-MW diesel-fired modular generator sets.
Tudio said ERC officials gave their go-signal last Thursday for the temporary use of the generator sets pending the release of COC but its operator, Aggreko Inc., and Mapalad Power Corporation (MPC) decided against it.
“We might still get slapped with a show cause order by ERC and possibly get fined or even imprisoned for it so we just decided to wait for the issuance of the COC,” he said.
Socoteco 1 initially commissioned the generator sets in October last year but was stopped by the NGCP due to the lack of a grid plan and the delayed issuance of the COC from the ERC.
Tudio said they were advised by the legal department of the Alcantara-controlled MPC that the ERC will finally deliberate this week the “possible issuance” of the COC for the generator sets.
In this city, Socoteco II has not been able to utilize its leased 15-MW generator sets from operator SoEnergy Philippines Inc. since its installation in September last year due to permitting problems. source
Napocor disputes Petilla report on Mindanao power breakdown
Manila Bulletin
by Camcer Ordonez Imam
March 4, 2014
Cagayan De Oro City – National Power Corporation (Napocor) officials belied Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla’s report that a power plant in Lanao del Norte conked out and was the cause of the Mindanao-wide blackout last Thursday, Feb. 27.
Secretary Petilla had told the press the other day that one of the power plants maintained by the Napocor, the Agus 1 in Lanao del Norte, which provides power to one of the major power grids in Mindanao, stopped operations, causing the power outage.
But Napocor spokesman Romero Pacilan said the transmission of power from the Napocor plant was normal at that time. However, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) transmission system could not take in the energy at that time because of low voltage, he said.
Pacilan said they could not determine why there was “low voltage” in the transmission of the electricity.
This was reinforced by Napocor officials in Iligan City who said that the origin of the power failure that caused a blackout in Mindanao about 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2014, could not be positively traced.
On the other hand, the Steag State Power Inc. (SPI) situated inside the Phividec Industrial Estate in Villanueva town, Misamis Oriental, said “initial reports indicated that the Mindanao grid systems disturbance was caused by the tripping of several power plants in Mindanao which started from the state-owned Agus 1 in Marawi City.” Jerome R. Soldevilla, communications officer of SPI, said “Units 1 and 2 of SPI’s Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant remain off-line after sustaining partial damage to its turbine generating sets brought about by the reported Mindanao grid systems disturbance on Thursday, 27 February 2014.. Each unit has a net generating capacity of 105 MW.”
Soldevilla said SPI is now fast-tracking a comprehensive inspection and assessment of the turbine-generators.
The inspection takes time as it covers all the essential parts of the turbine generating sets and other major power plant equipment, he said.
Earlier, SPI President and CEO Dr. Bodo Goerlich said the company is doubling its efforts to bring the units back to the Mindanao grid.
SPI’s power plant is Mindanao’s biggest in terms of unit capacity. Since start of its commercial operations in November, 2006, it has delivered more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to the Mindanao grid, representing about a fifth of the island’s total electricity supply. SPI is principally owned by Steag GmbH, one of the largest electricity producers in Germany.
It took five hours before power transmission could be restored in Cagayan de Oro City, Davao City, General Santos City, Zamboanga City, Pagadian City, and some municipal towns in Mindanao.
The mysterious blackout, which the NGCP, the power distributor, described as an “unknown transmission disturbance,” has generated a number of speculations.
What’s True State Of Mindanao Power?
In the House of Representatives, the Independent Minority Bloc (IMB) yesterday called on the Aquino government to reveal the true state of power in Mindanao following last week’s region-wide and largely unexplained blackout.
“We call on the government to come out with the true state of the power situation in Mindanao and what, if any, is being done to assure sufficient power supply,” IMB leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said in a press conference at the House.
“Billions of pesos are expected to be lost from the power problem. We in the Bloc are wondering why this administration can’t find a viable and lasting solution when this is not new to us,” Romualdez said.
“Since last year, the power crisis in Mindanao has been public knowledge. But apart from a handful of ‘one-time’ remedies, we have yet to hear of a continuous project or effort for sustainable power supply in the region,” he added.
It is “grossly unfair” of the Aquino administration to sweep the Mindanao power crisis under the rug, whereas it has been very aggressive on issues concerning its political enemies.
“We don’t hear anything about the Mindanao power crisis unless something happens like the blackout. But if it’s about opponents of the Aquino Administration, there is always something new in media, no matter how superficial it is,” the Visayas lawmaker said. (With a report from Ellson A. Quismorio) source
by Camcer Ordonez Imam
March 4, 2014
Cagayan De Oro City – National Power Corporation (Napocor) officials belied Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla’s report that a power plant in Lanao del Norte conked out and was the cause of the Mindanao-wide blackout last Thursday, Feb. 27.
Secretary Petilla had told the press the other day that one of the power plants maintained by the Napocor, the Agus 1 in Lanao del Norte, which provides power to one of the major power grids in Mindanao, stopped operations, causing the power outage.
But Napocor spokesman Romero Pacilan said the transmission of power from the Napocor plant was normal at that time. However, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) transmission system could not take in the energy at that time because of low voltage, he said.
Pacilan said they could not determine why there was “low voltage” in the transmission of the electricity.
This was reinforced by Napocor officials in Iligan City who said that the origin of the power failure that caused a blackout in Mindanao about 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2014, could not be positively traced.
On the other hand, the Steag State Power Inc. (SPI) situated inside the Phividec Industrial Estate in Villanueva town, Misamis Oriental, said “initial reports indicated that the Mindanao grid systems disturbance was caused by the tripping of several power plants in Mindanao which started from the state-owned Agus 1 in Marawi City.” Jerome R. Soldevilla, communications officer of SPI, said “Units 1 and 2 of SPI’s Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant remain off-line after sustaining partial damage to its turbine generating sets brought about by the reported Mindanao grid systems disturbance on Thursday, 27 February 2014.. Each unit has a net generating capacity of 105 MW.”
Soldevilla said SPI is now fast-tracking a comprehensive inspection and assessment of the turbine-generators.
The inspection takes time as it covers all the essential parts of the turbine generating sets and other major power plant equipment, he said.
Earlier, SPI President and CEO Dr. Bodo Goerlich said the company is doubling its efforts to bring the units back to the Mindanao grid.
SPI’s power plant is Mindanao’s biggest in terms of unit capacity. Since start of its commercial operations in November, 2006, it has delivered more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to the Mindanao grid, representing about a fifth of the island’s total electricity supply. SPI is principally owned by Steag GmbH, one of the largest electricity producers in Germany.
It took five hours before power transmission could be restored in Cagayan de Oro City, Davao City, General Santos City, Zamboanga City, Pagadian City, and some municipal towns in Mindanao.
The mysterious blackout, which the NGCP, the power distributor, described as an “unknown transmission disturbance,” has generated a number of speculations.
What’s True State Of Mindanao Power?
In the House of Representatives, the Independent Minority Bloc (IMB) yesterday called on the Aquino government to reveal the true state of power in Mindanao following last week’s region-wide and largely unexplained blackout.
“We call on the government to come out with the true state of the power situation in Mindanao and what, if any, is being done to assure sufficient power supply,” IMB leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said in a press conference at the House.
“Billions of pesos are expected to be lost from the power problem. We in the Bloc are wondering why this administration can’t find a viable and lasting solution when this is not new to us,” Romualdez said.
“Since last year, the power crisis in Mindanao has been public knowledge. But apart from a handful of ‘one-time’ remedies, we have yet to hear of a continuous project or effort for sustainable power supply in the region,” he added.
It is “grossly unfair” of the Aquino administration to sweep the Mindanao power crisis under the rug, whereas it has been very aggressive on issues concerning its political enemies.
“We don’t hear anything about the Mindanao power crisis unless something happens like the blackout. But if it’s about opponents of the Aquino Administration, there is always something new in media, no matter how superficial it is,” the Visayas lawmaker said. (With a report from Ellson A. Quismorio) source
EDC earnings dip to P6.6 B on lower energy sales
By Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)
Updated March 4, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the geothermal power firm company of the Lopez Group, reported a 20 percent decline in its net income last year on lower energy sales.
Updated March 4, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the geothermal power firm company of the Lopez Group, reported a 20 percent decline in its net income last year on lower energy sales.
The company said its net income in 2013 went down 20 percent to P6.6 billion from P8.2 billion the previous year mainly on account of lower energy sales by its unit FG Hydro.
Consolidated revenues reached P25.7 billion last year, down 10 percent from P28.4 billion in 2012, as revenues from FG Hydro alone dropped by P2.2 billion.
“Furthermore, consolidated net income attributable to equity holders of the parent stood at P4.7 billion last year, down 46 percent compared with the P8.7 billion recorded in 2012,” EDC said.
In its report, EDC attributed the drop in revenues to a net loss of P2 billion for non-recurring items last year. This was in contrast to a P0.5 billion non-recurring gain for 2012.
“The non- recurring loss was primarily driven by realignment losses from the volatility in the peso- dollar exchange rate with the P1.3 billion foreign exchange loss in 2013 as compared to the P1.1 billion foreign exchange gain in 2012,” the company said.
The damage as a result of Super Typhoon Yolanda, which struck the country last November, also affected EDC’s revenues.
“Other major non-recurring item for 2013 includes material damage sustained due to Yolanda amounting to P0.6 billion,” EDC said.
The company owns the Unified Leyte Power Plants, parts of which were damaged by the typhoon.
Nevertheless, EDC executive vice president Ernesto Pantangco said the company’s financial position remained strong.
“The year 2013 posed unprecedented challenges to EDC. We, however, remained steadfast and have exerted efforts to expedite the energization of the Leyte plants. We remain on track to have the last of the Leyte plants energized by about June 2014,” he said.
EDC remains the largest producer of geothermal energy in the Philippines, accounting for 62 percent of the country’s total installed hydroelectric plant.
For this year, EDC is on track for the commissioning of the 40-megawatt Nasulo geothermal project as well as the 87-MW Burgos wind energy project by the third quarter and fourth quarter, respectively. source
‘End Mindanao power crisis’
Manila Standard Today
By Maricel Cruz March 04, 2014 at 12:01am
The Independent Minority Bloc in the House of Representatives on Monday urged the Aquino administration to come out with the true state of the power situation in Mindanao and propose long term efforts to address the problem.
The Bloc’s leader, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, quoted media saying the blackout was due to a power trip in a facility somewhere in Lanao.
“But experts we have consulted are one in pointing out that if it’s only Lanao, why was the whole of Mindanao affected?” Romualdez asked.
Just last week, President Aquino invited foreign investors to do business in Mindanao, Romualdez said, but if there is no clear-cut assurance of a stable power supply there, we could not expect any immediate favorable response. Romualdez said billions of pesos are expected to be lost from the power problem.
“We in the Bloc are wondering why this administration can’t find a viable and lasting solution when this is not new to us,” the Bloc’s leader said.
Since last year, the power crisis in Mindanao has been public knowledge, Romualdez said.
“But apart from a handful of ‘one-time’ remedies, we have yet to hear of a continuous project or effort for sustainable power supply in the region.
“In fact, we don’t hear anything about the Mindanao power crisis unless something happens like the blackout. But if it’s about opponents of the Aquino Administration, there is always something new in media, no matter how superficial it is,” Romualdez pointed out.
“We find this grossly unfair. We assure our people that we in the Bloc will do whatever we can to help ease the power burdens of our brothers and sisters in Mindanao,” he added.
Certain areas in Mindanao still experience rotating blackouts during the peak hours of 6-9 p.m. The rotating blackouts have exacted their toll on business establishments in Kidapawan City whose operations were being disrupted by outages lasting for hours.
Power outages in Zamboanga del Sur have meanwhile stretched from two hours to four hours as two units of a coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental went offline.
DOE said in a statement on Friday that the power plant trippings began in the Agus 1 Hydroelectric Powerplant in Marawi City.
Former party-list representative Teddy Casiño earlier called on Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla to look for another job in light of his failure to address the recurring power crisis that has been plaguing Mindanao for the last five years. source
By Maricel Cruz March 04, 2014 at 12:01am
The Independent Minority Bloc in the House of Representatives on Monday urged the Aquino administration to come out with the true state of the power situation in Mindanao and propose long term efforts to address the problem.
The Bloc’s leader, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, quoted media saying the blackout was due to a power trip in a facility somewhere in Lanao.
“But experts we have consulted are one in pointing out that if it’s only Lanao, why was the whole of Mindanao affected?” Romualdez asked.
Just last week, President Aquino invited foreign investors to do business in Mindanao, Romualdez said, but if there is no clear-cut assurance of a stable power supply there, we could not expect any immediate favorable response. Romualdez said billions of pesos are expected to be lost from the power problem.
“We in the Bloc are wondering why this administration can’t find a viable and lasting solution when this is not new to us,” the Bloc’s leader said.
Since last year, the power crisis in Mindanao has been public knowledge, Romualdez said.
“But apart from a handful of ‘one-time’ remedies, we have yet to hear of a continuous project or effort for sustainable power supply in the region.
“In fact, we don’t hear anything about the Mindanao power crisis unless something happens like the blackout. But if it’s about opponents of the Aquino Administration, there is always something new in media, no matter how superficial it is,” Romualdez pointed out.
“We find this grossly unfair. We assure our people that we in the Bloc will do whatever we can to help ease the power burdens of our brothers and sisters in Mindanao,” he added.
Certain areas in Mindanao still experience rotating blackouts during the peak hours of 6-9 p.m. The rotating blackouts have exacted their toll on business establishments in Kidapawan City whose operations were being disrupted by outages lasting for hours.
Power outages in Zamboanga del Sur have meanwhile stretched from two hours to four hours as two units of a coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental went offline.
DOE said in a statement on Friday that the power plant trippings began in the Agus 1 Hydroelectric Powerplant in Marawi City.
Former party-list representative Teddy Casiño earlier called on Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla to look for another job in light of his failure to address the recurring power crisis that has been plaguing Mindanao for the last five years. source
Monday, March 3, 2014
Power-bill refund good until 2015, Meralco exec says
Business Mirror
3 Mar 2014
Written by Lenie Lectura
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday said it has until 2015 to fully comply with a 2013 Supreme Court (SC) ruling that mandated the utility firm to return the P30.2 billion it overcharged to customers.
“We have up to 2015 to complete the refund process for the remaining customers,” Meralco Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.
About 95 percent of Meralco customers entitled to the refund have received it. The remaining 5 percent of Meralco customers have terminated accounts, Zaldarriaga said.
“We have strictly followed the process of the SC refund order. In fact, all our customers entitled to the refund have been notified or refunded. We continue to remind customers to present necessary documents required,” the Meralco spokesman said, who added that the remaining 5 percent is equivalent to an estimated P1.5 billion in refunds.
Meralco, according to the SC, wrongfully passed on to its customers many years of corporate income taxes.
The utility firm’s comments were in reaction to a House Resolution filed by House Deputy Minority Leader Arnel Ty, who urged the House Committee on Energy to inquire into Meralco’s failure to fully comply with the SC order.
“We were told that up to now, or more than 10 years later, Meralco has yet to refund at least P1.5 billion to approximately 260,000 customers,” Ty said.
Ty invoked The Consumer Act, or Republic Act 7394, which mandates the State “to protect the interest of consumers, promote their general welfare, and to establish the standards of conduct for business and industry.” source
3 Mar 2014
Written by Lenie Lectura
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday said it has until 2015 to fully comply with a 2013 Supreme Court (SC) ruling that mandated the utility firm to return the P30.2 billion it overcharged to customers.
“We have up to 2015 to complete the refund process for the remaining customers,” Meralco Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.
About 95 percent of Meralco customers entitled to the refund have received it. The remaining 5 percent of Meralco customers have terminated accounts, Zaldarriaga said.
“We have strictly followed the process of the SC refund order. In fact, all our customers entitled to the refund have been notified or refunded. We continue to remind customers to present necessary documents required,” the Meralco spokesman said, who added that the remaining 5 percent is equivalent to an estimated P1.5 billion in refunds.
Meralco, according to the SC, wrongfully passed on to its customers many years of corporate income taxes.
The utility firm’s comments were in reaction to a House Resolution filed by House Deputy Minority Leader Arnel Ty, who urged the House Committee on Energy to inquire into Meralco’s failure to fully comply with the SC order.
“We were told that up to now, or more than 10 years later, Meralco has yet to refund at least P1.5 billion to approximately 260,000 customers,” Ty said.
Ty invoked The Consumer Act, or Republic Act 7394, which mandates the State “to protect the interest of consumers, promote their general welfare, and to establish the standards of conduct for business and industry.” source
Steag coal-fired plant suffers technical glitch
Manila Bulletin
by Myrna Velasco
March 3, 2014
The 210-megawatt Mindanao coal-fired power plant has sustained damage after the strike of Mindanao blackouts on Thursday, a statement from facility operator Steag State Power Inc. (SPI) has noted.
“Technical problems were detected in the turbine generators. SPI is currently conducting a thorough assessment and inspection of the units and other plant systems,” the company said.
According to SPI president and chief executive officer Dr. Bodo Goerlich, “the company is working hard to restore the Mindanao coal-fired power plant back to the grid.”
He indicated further “we have already mobilized all our resources to restore the units back on-line.”
As to the timeframe of the plant operations’ restoration, however, the company was not able to commit exact schedule yet as of Friday afternoon.
“Target date of the units’ restoration will be known as soon as the technical assessment and evaluation is completed,” the company stressed.
The facility went off-line dawn of Thursday as the entire Mindanao grid was also plunged into system-wide power interruptions.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has indicated in briefings with the media that power supply in Mindanao grid cannot be brought back in full yet, up until the Steag coal plant returns to operation.
The Mindanao coal plant sited at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental has two units of 105-MW capacity each.
It started commercial operations in 2006, and since then, it became a major source of supply for the region. It also enhanced power mix diversification in the grid, which traditionally relied with hydropower plants. source
by Myrna Velasco
March 3, 2014
The 210-megawatt Mindanao coal-fired power plant has sustained damage after the strike of Mindanao blackouts on Thursday, a statement from facility operator Steag State Power Inc. (SPI) has noted.
“Technical problems were detected in the turbine generators. SPI is currently conducting a thorough assessment and inspection of the units and other plant systems,” the company said.
According to SPI president and chief executive officer Dr. Bodo Goerlich, “the company is working hard to restore the Mindanao coal-fired power plant back to the grid.”
He indicated further “we have already mobilized all our resources to restore the units back on-line.”
As to the timeframe of the plant operations’ restoration, however, the company was not able to commit exact schedule yet as of Friday afternoon.
“Target date of the units’ restoration will be known as soon as the technical assessment and evaluation is completed,” the company stressed.
The facility went off-line dawn of Thursday as the entire Mindanao grid was also plunged into system-wide power interruptions.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has indicated in briefings with the media that power supply in Mindanao grid cannot be brought back in full yet, up until the Steag coal plant returns to operation.
The Mindanao coal plant sited at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental has two units of 105-MW capacity each.
It started commercial operations in 2006, and since then, it became a major source of supply for the region. It also enhanced power mix diversification in the grid, which traditionally relied with hydropower plants. source
‘Rotational blackouts to continue in Mindanao until 2015’
Business Mirror
3 Mar 2014
Written by Recto Mercene with ANC/ABS-CBNnews.com
The Department of Energy warns rotational power interruptions will continue in Mindanao until 2015.
Increase base load capacity
3 Mar 2014
Written by Recto Mercene with ANC/ABS-CBNnews.com
The Department of Energy warns rotational power interruptions will continue in Mindanao until 2015.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said they are expecting two power plants to come onstream next year—a 350-megawatt (MW) facility from the Aboitiz group and a 200-MW plant from the Alcantara group—which should help address the supply shortage in the southern Philippines.
He added that this is why they have asked electric cooperatives to prepare contingency measures.
“We expected it to happen this year. In fact, I’m surprised people are bringing this up, the rotational brownouts in Mindanao, because based on our projection there is shortage of power in Mindanao until 2015 and we’ve been repeating that several times already,” he told ANC.
“Even without the blackout [on Thursday], we will have rotational brownouts,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy appeals for understanding as it continues to look into last week’s Mindanao blackout.
Petilla said they have asked the Department of Science and Technology to come onboard to help them look for answers.
“People were saying, is there a sabotage? I said, this is not to hope for a sabotage. But if a tower is blown up, it’s easy to trace it. If a tree fell on a transformer, it’s physical. But if its electro-mechanical, you need all the data, you need all the logs of all the plants, all the logs of the NGCP [National Grid Corp. of the Philippines],” he said.
“The logs are in nanoseconds. Sabi nila nagsabay-sabay bumagsak ang planta. But when you look at the logs, hindi sabay-sabay. Some of them were split-seconds. On our end, hindi sabay-sabay ’yan. Titingnan namin ang sequence, down to the last nanosecond because it will spell the difference and give us answers,” Petilla added.
Parts of Mindanao suffered a blackout on Thursday, although the cause has yet to be determined. The suspected cause was equipment failure at a high-voltage switchyard, which then triggered the automatic shutdown of a nearby government-owned hydropower plant that draws its power from a dam. It then had a cascading effect on other power plants across the region.
TO address the lingering issue of power shortage in Mindanao, Malacañang said on Tuesday that the solution is to increase the baseload capacity by putting up more power generators and, at the same time, rehabilitate the Agus hydroelectric power plant in Lanao del Norte.
“That issue in Mindanao, what you really need is to increase the baseload capacity; you have to put up more power generators and remember our power plants—we need to rehabilitate, the Agus hydropower plants,” Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said at news briefing.
Lacierda said the administration is building more power plants, the only way to increase the baseload capacity.
Mindanao had been suffering episodes of long, island-wide blackouts during the past months and authorities fail to determine the cause. source
Zambo still in darkness 9-Hour Daily Brownouts Hurt Traders, Baffle Residents
Manila Bulletin
by Nonoy E. Lacson
March 3, 2014
Zamboanga City – This city continues to suffer from six to nine hours of daily brownouts as a result of the massive power failure that struck Mindanao last Feb. 27. At 3:53 a.m. that day, the entire island was blanketed in darkness for still unclear reason.
The business community in this city is now losing millions of pesos in sales and income due to the daily brownouts imposed since last Thursday by the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco).
Residents have been asking Zamcelco management why the city is still suffering from long rotational and daily brownouts considering that the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported last Feb. 28 that the Mindanao grid had already been fully re-energized as of 12:18 p.m. on Feb. 27.
In a statement sent to the Manila Bulletin last Saturday, the Department of Energy (DOE) said they were closely monitoring the power situation in Mindanao, adding that an investigation on the root cause of the system-wide shutdown was underway.
The NGCP reported that the Mindanao system demand stood at 785 MW while the supply was at 853 MW, thus having a 93-MW reserve, at around 3:52 a.m. on Feb. 27 when all the lights went out.
Residents in this city, however, claimed that Mindanao is suffering from low power generation, hence electric cooperatives are now receiving reduced power allocations.
The DOE said initial reports indicated that a tripping of the power lines occurred, emanating from the breaker of a switchyard in a power plant.
The DOE and National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) are still gathering information to validate the reports from the National Power Corporation (NPC), the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and NGCP, the DOE statement said. source
by Nonoy E. Lacson
March 3, 2014
Zamboanga City – This city continues to suffer from six to nine hours of daily brownouts as a result of the massive power failure that struck Mindanao last Feb. 27. At 3:53 a.m. that day, the entire island was blanketed in darkness for still unclear reason.
The business community in this city is now losing millions of pesos in sales and income due to the daily brownouts imposed since last Thursday by the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco).
Residents have been asking Zamcelco management why the city is still suffering from long rotational and daily brownouts considering that the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported last Feb. 28 that the Mindanao grid had already been fully re-energized as of 12:18 p.m. on Feb. 27.
In a statement sent to the Manila Bulletin last Saturday, the Department of Energy (DOE) said they were closely monitoring the power situation in Mindanao, adding that an investigation on the root cause of the system-wide shutdown was underway.
The NGCP reported that the Mindanao system demand stood at 785 MW while the supply was at 853 MW, thus having a 93-MW reserve, at around 3:52 a.m. on Feb. 27 when all the lights went out.
Residents in this city, however, claimed that Mindanao is suffering from low power generation, hence electric cooperatives are now receiving reduced power allocations.
The DOE said initial reports indicated that a tripping of the power lines occurred, emanating from the breaker of a switchyard in a power plant.
The DOE and National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) are still gathering information to validate the reports from the National Power Corporation (NPC), the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and NGCP, the DOE statement said. source
EDC 2013 profit down 20%; more plants up
Manila Times.net
March 3, 2014 10:29 pm
by Kristyn Nika M. Lazo
Geothermal energy firm Energy Development Corp. (EDC) incurred a 20-percent drop in net income last year but said more power plants will boost its capacity later this year.
In a statement, EDC said its 2013 net income fell 20 percent to P6.6 billion from P8.2 billion a year earlier. EDC’s revenues declined 10 percent to P25.7 billion last year from P28.4 billion in 2012.
“[The year] 2013 posed unprecedented challenges to EDC.
We, however, remained steadfast and have exerted efforts to expedite the energization of Leyte [power] plants,” said Ernesto Patangco, EDC executive vice president.
EDC is the largest generator of geothermal energy in the Philippines, supplying 62-percent share of the country’s geothermal capacity.
The company also has hydroelectric plants producing 132 megawatts (MW) of power.
The power firm is committed to commissioning the 40-MW Nasulo Geothermal Project, and the 87-MW Burgos Wind Energy Project by third and fourth quarters of the year, respectively. source
March 3, 2014 10:29 pm
by Kristyn Nika M. Lazo
Geothermal energy firm Energy Development Corp. (EDC) incurred a 20-percent drop in net income last year but said more power plants will boost its capacity later this year.
In a statement, EDC said its 2013 net income fell 20 percent to P6.6 billion from P8.2 billion a year earlier. EDC’s revenues declined 10 percent to P25.7 billion last year from P28.4 billion in 2012.
“[The year] 2013 posed unprecedented challenges to EDC.
We, however, remained steadfast and have exerted efforts to expedite the energization of Leyte [power] plants,” said Ernesto Patangco, EDC executive vice president.
EDC is the largest generator of geothermal energy in the Philippines, supplying 62-percent share of the country’s geothermal capacity.
The company also has hydroelectric plants producing 132 megawatts (MW) of power.
The power firm is committed to commissioning the 40-MW Nasulo Geothermal Project, and the 87-MW Burgos Wind Energy Project by third and fourth quarters of the year, respectively. source
6 days and counting: Bukidnon marred by long power outages
By April Rose Torion on March 3 2014 8:38 pm
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 3 March) – Parts of Bukidnon have been experiencing daily power outages since Feb. 26, a day before Thursday’s Mindanao-wide blackout.
Juancho Chiong, manager of the Manolo Fortich branch of the Bukidnon II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BUSECO), explained that the power interruptions, which worsened up to six hours starting March 1, were caused by the unsolved problem in the Mindanao Grid.
“Our power supply contract is still not being followed,” Chiong said, “as the system operator is saying … the Mindanao Grid is still critical.”
According to Chiong, BUSECO has contracted power from the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the Aboitiz-owned Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) and the local hydro GerPhil Renewable Energy, Inc. (GREI).
He said BUSECO’s peak demand is 23.06 MW, but they are short by about 9 MW.
“PSALM and TMI could no longer provide [additional electricity to] us since Mindanao is short of around 200 MW,” he added.
He also said that the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market (IMEM), where distribution utilities can buy from private generators, is still suspended.
“IMEM was created so that in times of deficiency of supply we could tap new resources. But we noticed that every time there is real and actual deficiency, it is being suspended,” Chiong said.
The results are voluntary load curtailment (VLC) and manual load dropping (MLD), he added.
Chiong said that in VLC, distribution utilities such as BUSECO can schedule rotational brownouts while in MLD, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), a private consortium that allocates power supply, can drop supply without notice.
Mindanao-wide shutdown
Thursday last week, a system-wide power shutdown starting at 3:52 a.m. was felt all over Mindanao. That day NGCP released a statement that they are still determining the cause of the problem.
They also reported power supply was restored in Davao City, General Santos, Zamboanga, Pagadian, Cagayan de Oro and parts of Misamis Oriental by 9:30 a.m. and the rest of Mindanao by 12:18 p.m.
The next day, the Department of Energy said the problem started with the tripping of the switchyard breaker at the Agus 1 hydroelectric plant in Marawi City. The breaker links the power plant to the transmission network.
The DOE statement also listed in chronological order the plants that tripped leading to system collapse: Agus 1 Unit 2, Unit 1; Agus 2 Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 1; Agus 7 Unit 2; Mt. Apo Geothermal; Pulangi Units 1 and 2; Agus 7 Unit 1; Agus 4 Units 1,2 and 3; SPPC (Southern Philippines Power Corporation in Alabel, Sarangani); Agus 5 Unit 1, Unit 2; Agus 6 Unit 6; STEAG (in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental).
These plants were said to have a total capacity of 677.2 MW.
The same also mentioned that the STEAG State Power, Inc, a coal-powered plant which supplies 210 MW, is “still undertaking assessment of their facilities.”
“There will be 2 to 3 hours of rotating brownouts in certain franchise areas during peak hours (6-9 p.m.), depending on the supply management of the Distribution Utilities (e.g. electric cooperatives),” the statement said.
As of this writing, NGCP, DOE, the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo), still have not released a complete report on the problem while parts of Mindanao continue to experience brownouts due to power deficiency.
In Malaybalay City, power interruptions began a day before the Mindanao-wide blackout on Feb. 27.
The Feb. 26 brownout, however, is a different story.
The Feb. 26 story
In the Strictly Business News Conference on the day of the blackout, officials from BUSECO dispelled rumors that the then two-day brownouts were due to a sabotage of power lines.
Melchie Nacalaban, newly installed manager of BUSECO’s Malaybalay branch, said the brownout on Feb. 26 was part of their preventive maintenance routine,
“A cross-arm (a bracket in a power line pole) in Mamawag area [in Malaybalay] was spotted to have incurred minor damage. So we scheduled the 8-9 p.m. brownout to prevent further damage,” she said.
Engr. Artis Nikki Tortola, chief operating officer of the Bukidnon Sub-transmission Corporation (BSTC), also belied claims that a transmission line in the province was faulty.
“The line is not the problem. It’s the source that’s the issue,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate but it affects not just BUSECO but also FIBECO [First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative, Inc.] and in fact, the whole Mindanao. That’s the extent of the problem due to generation deficiency,” Tortola added.
BSTC is a private consortium of BUSECO and FIBECO, which had bought sub-transmission lines in the province from TransCo in 2011. They now own the Tagoloan-BUSECO 69 kV line, the Kibawe-Maramag-Aglayan-FIBECO 59 kV line and the Maramag-Pulangi lateral lines.
FIBECO is another power distributor servicing the southern half of the province. MindaNews tried to contact FIBECO, but no reply was received yet.
As for the power supply in Bukidnon, BUSECO’s Chiong said the MLDs and VLCs can still continue as long as power issues in Mindanao remain unaddressed.
Currently, BUSECO is shutting power supply alternately in the Aglayan and Lunocan-San Vicente substations for six hours daily from March 1.
This, according to Chiong, is apart from being manually dropped by the NGCP System Operations in Iligan City as ordered by the Mindanao Regional Control Center in Cagayan de Oro City.
Aglayan substation serves Malaybalay, Cabanglasan, Lantapan and Talakag while the Lunocan-San Vicente substation serves Baungon, Libona, Malitbog, Manolo Fortich, Sumilao and Impasug-ong. source
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 3 March) – Parts of Bukidnon have been experiencing daily power outages since Feb. 26, a day before Thursday’s Mindanao-wide blackout.
Juancho Chiong, manager of the Manolo Fortich branch of the Bukidnon II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BUSECO), explained that the power interruptions, which worsened up to six hours starting March 1, were caused by the unsolved problem in the Mindanao Grid.
“Our power supply contract is still not being followed,” Chiong said, “as the system operator is saying … the Mindanao Grid is still critical.”
According to Chiong, BUSECO has contracted power from the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the Aboitiz-owned Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) and the local hydro GerPhil Renewable Energy, Inc. (GREI).
He said BUSECO’s peak demand is 23.06 MW, but they are short by about 9 MW.
“PSALM and TMI could no longer provide [additional electricity to] us since Mindanao is short of around 200 MW,” he added.
He also said that the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market (IMEM), where distribution utilities can buy from private generators, is still suspended.
“IMEM was created so that in times of deficiency of supply we could tap new resources. But we noticed that every time there is real and actual deficiency, it is being suspended,” Chiong said.
The results are voluntary load curtailment (VLC) and manual load dropping (MLD), he added.
Chiong said that in VLC, distribution utilities such as BUSECO can schedule rotational brownouts while in MLD, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), a private consortium that allocates power supply, can drop supply without notice.
Mindanao-wide shutdown
Thursday last week, a system-wide power shutdown starting at 3:52 a.m. was felt all over Mindanao. That day NGCP released a statement that they are still determining the cause of the problem.
They also reported power supply was restored in Davao City, General Santos, Zamboanga, Pagadian, Cagayan de Oro and parts of Misamis Oriental by 9:30 a.m. and the rest of Mindanao by 12:18 p.m.
The next day, the Department of Energy said the problem started with the tripping of the switchyard breaker at the Agus 1 hydroelectric plant in Marawi City. The breaker links the power plant to the transmission network.
The DOE statement also listed in chronological order the plants that tripped leading to system collapse: Agus 1 Unit 2, Unit 1; Agus 2 Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 1; Agus 7 Unit 2; Mt. Apo Geothermal; Pulangi Units 1 and 2; Agus 7 Unit 1; Agus 4 Units 1,2 and 3; SPPC (Southern Philippines Power Corporation in Alabel, Sarangani); Agus 5 Unit 1, Unit 2; Agus 6 Unit 6; STEAG (in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental).
These plants were said to have a total capacity of 677.2 MW.
The same also mentioned that the STEAG State Power, Inc, a coal-powered plant which supplies 210 MW, is “still undertaking assessment of their facilities.”
“There will be 2 to 3 hours of rotating brownouts in certain franchise areas during peak hours (6-9 p.m.), depending on the supply management of the Distribution Utilities (e.g. electric cooperatives),” the statement said.
As of this writing, NGCP, DOE, the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo), still have not released a complete report on the problem while parts of Mindanao continue to experience brownouts due to power deficiency.
In Malaybalay City, power interruptions began a day before the Mindanao-wide blackout on Feb. 27.
The Feb. 26 brownout, however, is a different story.
The Feb. 26 story
In the Strictly Business News Conference on the day of the blackout, officials from BUSECO dispelled rumors that the then two-day brownouts were due to a sabotage of power lines.
Melchie Nacalaban, newly installed manager of BUSECO’s Malaybalay branch, said the brownout on Feb. 26 was part of their preventive maintenance routine,
“A cross-arm (a bracket in a power line pole) in Mamawag area [in Malaybalay] was spotted to have incurred minor damage. So we scheduled the 8-9 p.m. brownout to prevent further damage,” she said.
Engr. Artis Nikki Tortola, chief operating officer of the Bukidnon Sub-transmission Corporation (BSTC), also belied claims that a transmission line in the province was faulty.
“The line is not the problem. It’s the source that’s the issue,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate but it affects not just BUSECO but also FIBECO [First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative, Inc.] and in fact, the whole Mindanao. That’s the extent of the problem due to generation deficiency,” Tortola added.
BSTC is a private consortium of BUSECO and FIBECO, which had bought sub-transmission lines in the province from TransCo in 2011. They now own the Tagoloan-BUSECO 69 kV line, the Kibawe-Maramag-Aglayan-FIBECO 59 kV line and the Maramag-Pulangi lateral lines.
FIBECO is another power distributor servicing the southern half of the province. MindaNews tried to contact FIBECO, but no reply was received yet.
As for the power supply in Bukidnon, BUSECO’s Chiong said the MLDs and VLCs can still continue as long as power issues in Mindanao remain unaddressed.
Currently, BUSECO is shutting power supply alternately in the Aglayan and Lunocan-San Vicente substations for six hours daily from March 1.
This, according to Chiong, is apart from being manually dropped by the NGCP System Operations in Iligan City as ordered by the Mindanao Regional Control Center in Cagayan de Oro City.
Aglayan substation serves Malaybalay, Cabanglasan, Lantapan and Talakag while the Lunocan-San Vicente substation serves Baungon, Libona, Malitbog, Manolo Fortich, Sumilao and Impasug-ong. source
Power-bill refund good until 2015, Meralco exec says
Business Mirror
03 Mar 2014
Written by Lenie Lectura
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday said it has until 2015 to fully comply with a 2013 Supreme Court (SC) ruling that mandated the utility firm to return the P30.2 billion it overcharged to customers.
“We have up to 2015 to complete the refund process for the remaining customers,” Meralco Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.
About 95 percent of Meralco customers entitled to the refund have received it. The remaining 5 percent of Meralco customers have terminated accounts, Zaldarriaga said.
“We have strictly followed the process of the SC refund order. In fact, all our customers entitled to the refund have been notified or refunded. We continue to remind customers to present necessary documents required,” the Meralco spokesman said, who added that the remaining 5 percent is equivalent to an estimated P1.5 billion in refunds.
Meralco, according to the SC, wrongfully passed on to its customers many years of corporate income taxes.
The utility firm’s comments were in reaction to a House Resolution filed by House Deputy Minority Leader Arnel Ty, who urged the House Committee on Energy to inquire into Meralco’s failure to fully comply with the SC order.
“We were told that up to now, or more than 10 years later, Meralco has yet to refund at least P1.5 billion to approximately 260,000 customers,” Ty said.
Ty invoked The Consumer Act, or Republic Act 7394, which mandates the State “to protect the interest of consumers, promote their general welfare, and to establish the standards of conduct for business and industry.” source
03 Mar 2014
Written by Lenie Lectura
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday said it has until 2015 to fully comply with a 2013 Supreme Court (SC) ruling that mandated the utility firm to return the P30.2 billion it overcharged to customers.
“We have up to 2015 to complete the refund process for the remaining customers,” Meralco Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.
About 95 percent of Meralco customers entitled to the refund have received it. The remaining 5 percent of Meralco customers have terminated accounts, Zaldarriaga said.
“We have strictly followed the process of the SC refund order. In fact, all our customers entitled to the refund have been notified or refunded. We continue to remind customers to present necessary documents required,” the Meralco spokesman said, who added that the remaining 5 percent is equivalent to an estimated P1.5 billion in refunds.
Meralco, according to the SC, wrongfully passed on to its customers many years of corporate income taxes.
The utility firm’s comments were in reaction to a House Resolution filed by House Deputy Minority Leader Arnel Ty, who urged the House Committee on Energy to inquire into Meralco’s failure to fully comply with the SC order.
“We were told that up to now, or more than 10 years later, Meralco has yet to refund at least P1.5 billion to approximately 260,000 customers,” Ty said.
Ty invoked The Consumer Act, or Republic Act 7394, which mandates the State “to protect the interest of consumers, promote their general welfare, and to establish the standards of conduct for business and industry.” source
Energy execs told: Stop blame game on outage
Manila Times.netMarch 3, 2014 6:36 am
REPORTER
REPORTER
Malacañang on Sunday said energy officials must stop tossing blame for the power crisis gripping Mindanao and instead find ways to solve it.
“This is not the time for blaming,” Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said, emphasizing the need for cooperation to solve the problem.
”We need to cooperate to find solutions to the problem,” he added.
Mindanao was hit by a massive blackout on Thursday, with the grid losing 1,100 to 1,200 megawatts.
Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said the Agus 1 hydropower plant in Lanao del Norte malfunctioned, triggering the outage. However, the National Power Corp. (NPC) denied Petilla’s claim.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is investigating the incident.
Coloma admitted that Mindanao may be having intermittent brownouts because not all power plants are back online.
”The power supply in Mindanao is limited,” he said, adding that the base load plants servicing the island supply only 37 percent of the demand.
This is why President Benigno Aquino 3rd stressed the “tightness of supply” of power in the region, Coloma said.
He said the DOE and NPC are doing their best to minimize the disruptions while waiting for new plants to be built next year.
Aquino had said that regular tripping could occur in the existing grids, resulting in power interruptions.
He added that regular three-hour rotating brownouts can be expected in Mindanao.
Coloma said the government has begun making structural changes to entice the private sector to put up power plants.
Last year, Aboitiz began a project to build two coal-fired power plants in Davao, which will provide a total of 300 megawatts. The new plants are expected to fully operate on 2015.
Meanwhile, Coloma said the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will not be allowed to collect additional rates while the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court is in effect.
He said government will make sure that power consumers do not suffer from unfair electricity rate increases. source
Magat hydro plant rehab to be completed in June
(The Philippine Star) | Updated March 3, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - SN Aboitiz Power Corp., a joint venture of SN Power of Norway and the Aboitiz Group’s Aboitiz Power Corp., expects to complete the refurbishment of the 360-megawatt Magat hydropower plant in June, a ranking official said.
“We are on the last unit of the Magat refurbishment. We expect that to be running early June or earlier than that. After this unit is completed, the whole Magat facility has gone half-life refurbishment, something which has not been done in the 25 years that the plant has been operating under Napocor so once this unit is done it’s all completely new Magat,” said SN Aboitiz president Emmanuel Rubio.
SN Aboitiz Power owns the 360-MWt Magat hydro power plant.
It earlier applied with the Energy department for a renewable energy service contract covering the 115 MW Magat expansion.
Rubio said that once the DOE approves the service contract for the Magat expansion, the company covered proceed with project implementation.
“The application for expansion of Magat is still pending with the DOE,” Rubio said.
The expansion, in particular, involves the installation of a pump storage for 115.
The company had earlier successfully rehabilitated all four units of the Binga hydro power plant in Itogon, Benguet, which the company won in 2007 with a bid of $325 million.
The Binga plant, constructed in 1956 and commissioned in 1960, had been operating for almost 50 years. SNAP-Benguet acquired the facility in 2008, along with its sister facility, Ambuklao, through the government’s privatization program.
SN Aboitiz has so far a total capacity of 617 MW, which is expected to grow in the coming years with some expansion plans in the pipeline.
SN Power is a global renewable energy company established in 2002 as a Norwegian limited company. source
“We are on the last unit of the Magat refurbishment. We expect that to be running early June or earlier than that. After this unit is completed, the whole Magat facility has gone half-life refurbishment, something which has not been done in the 25 years that the plant has been operating under Napocor so once this unit is done it’s all completely new Magat,” said SN Aboitiz president Emmanuel Rubio.
SN Aboitiz Power owns the 360-MWt Magat hydro power plant.
It earlier applied with the Energy department for a renewable energy service contract covering the 115 MW Magat expansion.
Rubio said that once the DOE approves the service contract for the Magat expansion, the company covered proceed with project implementation.
“The application for expansion of Magat is still pending with the DOE,” Rubio said.
The expansion, in particular, involves the installation of a pump storage for 115.
The company had earlier successfully rehabilitated all four units of the Binga hydro power plant in Itogon, Benguet, which the company won in 2007 with a bid of $325 million.
The Binga plant, constructed in 1956 and commissioned in 1960, had been operating for almost 50 years. SNAP-Benguet acquired the facility in 2008, along with its sister facility, Ambuklao, through the government’s privatization program.
SN Aboitiz has so far a total capacity of 617 MW, which is expected to grow in the coming years with some expansion plans in the pipeline.
SN Power is a global renewable energy company established in 2002 as a Norwegian limited company. source
Higher power rates in August
(The Philippine Star) | Updated March 3, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Power rates will go up by at least 3.8 centavos per kilowatt-hour starting August, this time owing to an increase in the rates of the National Power Corp.
Napocor originally planned to implement the higher universal charge for missionary electrification (UCME) last February but opted to defer this for six months or until July as the Supreme Court (SC) deliberates on the rate hike dispute over the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)’s December 2013 bill of P9.10 per kwh.
Effective August, Napocor will increase its UCME by P0.038 per kwh, raising the UCME to P0.15 from the prevailing rate of P0.1163 per kwh. This will be charged to power consumers.
Approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the UCME is a line item in consumers’ electricity bills, which is used to subsidize the cost of providing power to remote areas in the country that are not connected to the main grid.
In a resolution dated Feb. 4, Napocor said it moved to delay the implementation of higher universal charge to August to help ease the burden of consumers who are facing possible power rate hike from Meralco.
The state-owned power generation company deferred the higher charges upon the recommendation of Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.
“There is a need to alleviate the burden (of consumers) from any increase in electricity rates pending the review of policies in the electricity industry,” Napocor said.
However, it said it could only defer the rate hike until July this year.
“Napocor has taken the initiative of reviewing its financial condition and has determined that it can support the budgetary requirements and ensure viability of its operations in the Napocor-Small Power Utilities Group areas for a maximum period of six months if it defers the implementation of UCME recoveries,” Napocor said in its resolution.
The ERC approved the deferment in a separate order.
“The collection of higher UCME will start in August,” the ERC said.
Napocor’s deferment came amid an ongoing power rate hike dispute covering Meralco’s December 2013 bill of P9.10 per kwh, which is still the subject of a 60-day temporary restraining order issued by the SC.
The high court has yet to decide on the issue.
P1.5-B refunds
Meanwhile, Meralco still owes its 5.2 million customers around P1.5 billion in refunds more than a decade after the SC ordered the company to return previous overcharges, a leader of the House minority bloc said yesterday.
“The problem with Meralco is that while it has been quick to distribute profits to shareholders by way of hefty cash dividends, and swift to jack up rates to the detriment of customers, the company tends to dawdle when it comes to repaying consumers,” Deputy Minority Leader Arnel Ty said.
He urged the House committee on energy to inquire into Meralco’s failure to fully comply with the Nov. 15, 2003 SC ruling for the company to give back to its customers some P30.2 billion in overcharges.
He said the overcharges stemmed from prior years’ corporate income taxes, which were wrongfully charged by Meralco to its customers.
“We were told that up to now, or more than 10 years later, Meralco has yet to refund at least P1.5 billion to approximately 260,000 customers,” Ty said.
The lawmaker said the distributor has the means to settle the refunds, since it has been raking in billions in annual net profits.
He said the refunds should include interest.
Ty pointed out that Republic Act 7394 or The Consumer Protection Act mandates the state “to protect the interest of consumers, promote their general welfare, and to establish the standards of conduct for business and industry.”
A Meralco spokesman said they still have up to next year to complete the refunds.
Earlier, Ty urged Meralco to partially pay its power suppliers for electricity supplied in November and December, while it is awaiting SC resolution of the case involving its P4.15 per kwh rate increase.
The distributor’s suppliers have warned the public and the high court that unless they were paid, they might not be able to operate at full capacity since they needed money to buy fuel.
The SC has ended its hearings on oral arguments of the petitioners led by party-list group Bayan Muna, Meralco and the ERC.
It has also extended the 60-day temporary restraining order on Meralco’s rate increase. – With Jess Diaz source
The prince of darkness
Manila Standard Today
By | Mar. 03, 2014 at 12:01am
Although many people I know would like to confer the title of “Prince of Darkness” to Pres. Benigno Aquino, I believe that the honor should go to Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla. The secretary is more deserving of the title.
President Aquino does not deserve it because of his open and public admission that he does not know what is happening in the energy sector when he went to Davao Oriental last week as part of the Edsa celebration. He was told that more than a year after the devastation of Typhoon Pablo, 57 percent of the barangays in the province still have no electricity.
He said he was unaware of this problem until the governor of Davao Oriental told him that they were dealing with the problem of a one-year long blackout.
So Petilla, the alter ego of the President as far as the energy sector is concerned, is most deserving to be remembered as the “Prince of Darkness” of the Noynoy Aquino administration.
This summer, Petilla will have the opportunity to consolidate his hold on the title when Luzon goes through what appears to be inevitable rotating blackouts at the peak of summer.
Petilla, of course, has assured us that Luzon would be blackout-free. But it seems that his assurance comes from bravado more than anything else.
Summer is the time when demand for electricity is highest. It is also the time when hydroelectric power is drastically reduced as water levels in dams go down.
Petilla says the DOE calculations show that there will be power reserves but what he is downplaying is that the power reserves this summer are precariously thin as total demand for Luzon is expected to hit 10,300 MW as against available supply of 10,500 MW.
This means that we have measly reserve of 200 MW only and an unscheduled shutdown or tripping of even just one IPP would likely force DOE to order a power rationing in Metro Manila. This could result in power interruptions lasting two or three hours a day.
In fairness to Petilla, he did not say that there would be no blackouts in Luzon. The problem is that he is trying to play down the problem.
Petilla did admit that the Luzon grid would be on “yellow alert” this summer which means there will be rotating power brownout once a major power plant bogs down.
As a sort of reassurance, Petilla said the DOE has decided to run in April the government-owned Malaya Thermal Plant—yes the same idle facility that the government decided not to run despite the maintenance work on the Malampaya gas facility and the simultaneous shutdown of several IPPS.
The decision of the government power sector not to run Malaya during the Malampaya shutdown resulted in a situation where prices of electricity went sky high even as there was adequate supply after all.
It turns out that DOE has no option but to run Malaya this summer. Malaya has a rated capacity of 650 MW. With just a 200-MW reserve, blackouts are a certainty if Malaya remains idle.
Petilla should not worry about losing the title “Prince of Darkness”. The people of Mindanao would not allow him to lose it.
Mindanao suffered a massive island-wide power outage last week and Petilla could not even clearly identify the cause of the blackouts.
Curiously, President Aquino has decided to enter the Mindanao power shortage fray instead of allowing the more knowledgeable Petilla to do his job.
It would seem that the President is not about to give up the title of Prince of Darkness without a fight.
Instead of being reassuring, the President warned the people of Mindanao to expect more outages until 2015 when new power plants become operational.
Mr. Aquino said that since not all the power plants have been restored, the people should expect at least three-hour blackouts during the peak hours.
President Aquino’s statement that the power situation will normalize by next year in Mindanao and in Luzon is based on Petilla’s briefing that the various committed projects meant to augment supply were on track and scheduled for completion by 2015 or 2016.
However, the reality is far from what Petilla is saying. Based on recent media reports, it turns out that only two committed projects are actually ongoing. These are the respective 135 MW and 300 MW coal-fired plants of the Southern Luzon Thermal Energy Corp (a joint venture of Trans-Asia and Ayala Corp.) and the Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. of the Consunji group.
It seems that the other projects mentioned by Petilla are only indicative ones that may not even take off at all. source
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