BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – This city’s Lone District Rep. Julienne Baronda confirmed the House committee on energy has extracted the necessary answers the legislators needed in their ongoing investigation on the massive four-day power blackout that hit Panay Island and the rest of Western Visayas last January.
In her letter response to the Iloilo City Council, Baronda informed the legislators that the evidence they extracted from their resource persons would help them in their inquiry in aid of legislation.
“Rest assured that this representation will always stand for the welfare of the people of Iloilo City and will continue to champion measures and actions aimed at protecting and uplifting their lives,” read part of Baronda’s letter.
It added: “Towards this end, let us continue to work together for the Ilonggo people, particularly for a stable, reliable, and cost-efficient power supply.”
On Jan. 9, Baronda filed a resolution requesting her colleagues in Congress to launch the investigation “in aid of legislation” on the possible liabilities of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) on the prolonged brownout.
The city council also passed a resolution requesting Congress to conduct an inquiry and to amend or repeal the provisions of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) Law of 2001, which was passed supposedly to ensure “reliability, quality, security, and affordability of the supply of electric power” in the country.
The city council also urged legislators in Congress to determine the possible filing of a case for damages against the NGCP to recover the damages caused by the blackout.
The Iloilo City Council yesterday deliberated Baronda’s letter during their regular session.
The city and provincial governments of Iloilo earlier announced they are finalizing the joint complaint to be filed against NGCP before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Mayor Jerry Treñas had said that lawyers from the City Legal Office and the Provincial Legal Office met thrice and are finalizing the joint complaint against the country’s sole grip operator.
Treñas said they have decided to file the complaint before the ERC, instead in the regular court, considering the huge amount of filing fees when claiming damages. “While the ERC cannot award damages, it can fine the NGCP of up to P50 million,” said Treñas.
The city government earlier pegged the losses at P1.5 billion while the provincial government lost about P3.5 billion during the four-day power outage.
Provincial Legal Officer Dennis Ventillacion said they requested from the Department of Energy (DOE) a copy of the Transmission Development Plan (TDP) and will check the latest status of the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) Backbone project.
Ventillacion said they also requested data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the DOE, and other needed data that were discussed during the Senate inquiry.
The NGCP earlier blamed the power outage on Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) Unit 1, which tripped at around noontime on Jan. 2 due to a boiler feed pump issue.
The Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) Unit 1 and PEDC Unit 1 simultaneously tripped because of a grid voltage imbalance.
PEDC Unit 1 with 83 megawatts (MW) load capacity tripped at 12:06 p.m. on Jan. 2, and after two hours or at 2:19 p.m., PEDC Unit 2 with an 83-MW load capacity and the Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) with 135-MW followed.
NGCP had reported that with the tripping of three of the largest power-generating units and the planned maintenance shutdown of PEDC Unit 3 (150 MW), 451 MW, or 68.75% of the total 656 MW in-island generation, was lost to the Panay sub-grid.
Some of the long-delayed transmission projects in the Visayas region include Stages 2 and 3 of the CNP 230 kV Backbone Project, Cebu-Lapu Lapu Transmission Project, Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project, Naga (Cebu) Sub-station Upgrading Project, Tagbilaran 69 kV Substation Project, Visayas Voltage Improvement Project./PN
