INDEED, power matters, I mean electricity and not political or physical, because without it (electricity), the whole world stands still and almost everyone’s state of mind is affected.
By now, most citizens of “I Am Iloilo City” have accepted/understood the reality that power interruptions announced or otherwise will happen as there’s a need for rehabilitation and upgrading of the power distribution system, breakdowns of power plants including disasters. They take it in stride finding ways to cope with the situation. Of course, there are the usual whiners as idiots will always exist.
Going into the Holy Week, there was an unexpected/unannounced power interruption affecting several of MORE Power’s sub-stations, the usual suspects were, as if on cue, blaming the power utility. Of course, the official announcement showed the cause was a damaged NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) distribution tower/line with no discrepancy on MORE Power facilities.
Here’s another one: Last Wednesday’s emergency power interruption affecting several of MORE Power substations was to prevent another unscheduled power interruption that happened previously. The power line insulators of the 69kV sub-transmission line 2 connecting MORE Power to NGCP in Loboc, Lapuz is contaminated with sea water, thus washing it prevents another unscheduled interruption from happening again.
Ahay, when will these people learn that MORE Power is very much a victim like the consumer whenever there’s an NGCP-induced power interruption for the simple fact that they lose revenue and incur expenses when this happens.
Previously, I said MORE Power has the lowest electricity rate in the whole of Western Visayas; they still are but there’s a slight spike albeit minimal and not of their own making but NGCP-induced.
In a press release, MORE Power announced: a P0.18 per kWh increase in transmission charges, particularly due to Ancillary Services cost charged by NGCP, will increase power rates among consumers by P0.06 per kWh.
The Ancillary Service (AS) Rates for this month have increased from the previous month following the full commercial operations of the Reserve Market on 26 January 2024.
A large increase in the AS cost was due to the Contingency Reserve, with an increase almost four times that of the previous month. Contingency Reserve are those power plants that is intended to take care of the loss of the largest synchronized generating unit in the grid.
The Visayas grid procures most of its Contingency Reserve Requirement from the Reserve Market. With the tight supply and the on-going maintenance of power plants in the Visayas grid, there is very thin supply offered in the Reserve Market jacking up prices for this month.
Most of the participants in the reserve market are also coal suppliers and diesel plants from the Visayas grid.
The generation charge has decreased P0.11 per kWh this month due to the reduction in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) average nodal prices.
This means that MORE Power’s, current effective electricity rate increases to P10.0216 kWh from last month’s P9.96/kWh.
A very insignificant six centavos increase most consumers won’t even feel the effect.
Moving on to more power matters…
The very much-delayed Cebu-230 kV Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) backbone project Stage 3 of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has finally been completed.
Adrianne Dave Guilas, senior associate at Issues Management Group, Inc., a public relations firm hired by Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC), confirmed this to Panay News.
With the completion of the transmission projects, it is expected to upgrade the capacity of the existing submarine cable and improve sharing of excess power generation from the rest of the grid towards Negros and Panay Island.
Finally, we’re still not out of the woods yet as Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) 135-megawatt plant will not be able to go online as announced on March 30 following its scheduled two months preventive maintenance service after General Electric (GE), an independent service contractor they hired, inspected and tested the plant and discovered the generator “sustained stator insulation damage.”
I’m keeping my fingers crossed. But hope springs eternal, with MORE Power on our side, “I Am Iloilo City” will not be left in the dark./PN
