ILOILO City – Can More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) deliver to this city electricity cheaper than Panay Electric Co.’s (PECO)?
MORE Power should “avoid coming up with false, misleading claims,” according to PECO in a statement.
In various fora last week, MORE Power president Roel Castro said they were negotiating with various power producers – even those outside Panay Island – to secure affordable power.
“They are offering one-third less of the existing power generation which is P7.84 per kilowatt hour (kWh) as of January 2019. That is P6.63 / kWh versus P7.84 / kWh,” said Castro during a forum with the business sector on Thursday.
According to PECO, however, MORE Power’s plan to source electricity from power generators outside Panay Island would increase the transmission charges, line rental charges and technical loses because electricity would be traversing long distances.
MORE Power is the new power distributor here. President Rodrigo Duterte signed its franchise, Republic Act No. 11212, on Feb. 14. The law grants the company a 25-year franchise.
PECO’s franchise, on the other hand, expired on Jan. 19, 2019. It failed to secure an extension. However, its certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) would expire on May 2019 yet.
PECO also belied Castro’s claim that the former’s rates were more expensive than Iloilo Electric Cooperative (Ileco) 1 in Iloilo province and Visayan Electric Cooperative (Veco) in Cebu.
“Maybe he is just basing it on one month data. PECO has data over 12 months from January to December 2018. Our average residential rate over that period was P11.75 per kilowatt hour (kwh). Ileco 1’s was P11.92/kwh. VECO’s was P11.72/kwh and Meralco’s was P11.75/kwh based on actual bills of residential consumers. This shows that PECO is competitive, it is not expensive in general,” stressed PECO.
As to power reliability, PECO said it currently has a peaking supply contract which also serves as its backup power supply contract with the Panay Power Corp.’s diesel plant.
“What this contract gives PECO is an emergency supply,” it stressed.
On the other hand, according to PECO, MORE Power appears to be relying too much on the premise that the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines grid will be functional at all times.
“If anything were to happen to the grid connection, MORE Power would not be able to supply power to the city,” warned PECO.
Regarding Castro’s vow to automate the meter reading process, PECO said it had been doing this already.
“PECO has already begun to pilot test this in its Elevated Metering Centers and by next month in the villages of Puerto Real and Ledesco,” stressed PECO.
“All these false pretenses (of MORE Power) are propaganda to sway public opinion. But it reinforces PECO’s belief that experience is vital in the electricity distribution industry to avoid coming up with false, misleading claims,” it stressed./PN
I think PECO should not compare the rates of MERALCO to theirs. Iloilo is different from Manila in which Meralco is the provider. We are(Iloilo) not that progressive compared to Metro Manila or even Cebu. Iloilo should have cheaper electricity cost because the city is still developing. Investors are not confident enough to set-up their businesses because of the high electricity cost. Not just cost but the reliability of the service provider. My opinion.