WE, OF COURSE, mean the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and accountability is when a government department experiences consequences for its performance or actions.
And what are we talking about here is this: On June 15 the dredging and re-channeling activities of DPWH along Bio-os River in Barangay Jagna, Amlan, Negros Oriental damaged the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines’ (NGCP) 138 kilovolt (kV) high voltage submarine cable there.
And it affected one of the two cables connecting Cebu and Negros thereby reducing the capacity of the interconnection by 50 percent.
This caused congestion of power flow in certain hours of the day, especially during certain peaks and drives electricity prices higher during those time intervals.
The immediate effect of this mishap hits directly into the already dwindling pandemic-affected finances of the natives of “I Am Iloilo City”.
To recall, current “I Am Iloilo City” power provider MORE Power was able to reduce the electric rate to P6.45 per kilowatt hour, the lowest in the country, in July till December, and hopefully beyond that.
But the euphoria and relief brought about by that appears to be threatened by the DPWH fiasco.
The damage in NGCP’s submarine cable by DPWH cause a spike in line rentals to power distribution utilities particularly MORE Power, inadvertently also power rates.
Excerpts from an article in the Sept. 13, 2021 issue of Panay News:
“In July 2021, MORE Power was able to achieve the lowest residential electricity rates because of the ERC-approved competitive TOU (Time-Of-Use) Rates for PSALM (Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.). Unfortunately, this effort of MORE is now being challenged by the line rental and congestion charges that were brought about by an incident over which MORE Power had no fault or participation,” said Roel Castro, MORE Power president.
He noted that this extreme price hike in WESM is projected to continue until December, pending complete repair of the NGCP’s damaged submarine cable.
This, he added, means another unbearable four months for the paying consumers just because of the “underwater mishap” of the DPWH’s operator.
“MORE Power would like to respectfully request the immediate attention of the Honorable Commission to urgently look into the burden caused by the damaged submarine cable as this will continuously rip the consumers by paying exorbitant electricity rates,” said Castro.
Indeed why the consumers of Iloilo City should be made to bear the burden of the incompetence of DPWH’s contractor, the culprit there and the command responsibility falls on DPWH.
And this looming added burden in the midst of the pandemic courtesy of DPWH is already a cause of concern for “I Am Iloilo City” mayor Jerry Treñas and the city’s business groups, prompting them to come together.
Excerpts from the Sept. 10, 2021 issue of Panay News:
Calls for action ripple through city over uptick in power rate
Mayor Jerry Treñas and business groups here called for swift action from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) relative to the increased power rate brought by the damaged submarine cable of the National Grid and Power Corp. (NGCP).
In the billing for August 2021, rates in this city increased by P1 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for residential consumers.
This could further increase to around P10 per kWh for the September 2021 billing, said Treñas.
ERC must resolve the problem “maybe in the form of regulatory intervention in the pricing mechanisms of the energy market or mandating NGCP to resolve the problem with the submarine cable at the soonest,” Treñas wrote ERC Chairperson Agnes Devanadera.
“Fairness requires that the negligence of the DPWH or NGCP should not penalize the consumers of Iloilo City by the increase in rates. Competitive electricity prices will go a long way in helping our constituents amidst this pandemic,” Treñas stressed.
Treñas added that ERC’s swift action on the matter is the “only way to restore normalcy and stability” to the power supply of the city and Western Visayas as a whole both in terms of pricing and reliability.
The city government is supported by Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Iloilo Inc., the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation, Inc. (ILEDF) and the Iloilo Business Club in this call.
For its part, MORE Power has twice already sent letters to ERC chair Agnes Devanadera regarding the very high Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) line rental charges.
Meanwhile, Iloilo City’s Rep. Julienne Baronda and 2nd District’s Rep. Michael Gorriceta also brought up the issue on this sudden increase in power rate during the House Committee on Appropriations’ Budget Briefings / Hearings of the Department of Energy.
At least it’s good to know that all hands are on deck to sort out this spike in power rate caused by DPWH.
So if the usual suspects want to blame someone, don’t blame MORE Power but the DPWH. After all it was their backhoe that damaged the submarine cable. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com)/PN
