BUTUAN CITY, Philippines - An appeal was aired Sunday by the Mindanao business community and the island's 33 electric cooperatives for President Benigno S. Aquino III to look into the power shortage that has resulted in regular and massive brownouts in the South.
The Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (AMRECO) and various business organizations and business chambers asked Aquino to seriously look into the status of the hydro-electric power plants in Pulangi and Agus in Bukidnon and Lanao, respectively.
AMRECO said the power supply shortage is not only due to the reduced generating capacity of the Agus and Pulangi hydroelectric plants, but also to the derating (or control) of other power plants operating in Mindanao.
The AMRECO said the two Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) power barges with a total capacity of 200 megaWatts (mW) in Mindanao are also not operating at full capacity, for reasons cited and justified by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Electric cooperatives (ECs) that have bilateral contracts with NGCP will not source out electricity from power barges even during a supply shortage, because they are avoiding the rate impact which is too high a price to be passed on to their customers.
''The Department of Energy (DOE) is looking at the possibility of issuing a circular to compel customers like EC's to contract out and nominate available power barges capacity of TMI. However, EC's are in a dilemma whether or not to do the same as now experienced as they are also avoiding the blame from their customers, so the issue is which or an issue of chicken and egg what's first born,'' said AMRECO president Sergio Dagooc.
Another reason of TMI reducing its capacity is the alleged expiration of its ancillary services procurement agreement (ASPA) with NGCP.
The AMRECO said the NGCP cannot really specify the reason for the deficiency - whether it was caused by maintenance shutdown of plants of power companies, reduced capacities of others or rising demand.
Because of the alarming situation and worsening power problem, Mindanao's organized electricity-distribution cooperatives have also called on the government to ''act now and create a multi-sectoral committee'' to investigate the operations of Agus and Pulangi hydropower.
''The situation is really disturbing, and everybody now is concerned about the Mindanao power problem,'' said Dagooc, also general manager of Dinagat Islands and Siargao Islands Electric Cooperatives.
He said the DOE, as a remedial measure, declared that it will deploy inland fossil plant barges that have only the capacity of 40mW to 45 MW from the Visayas and Luzon to address the already worsening power shortage in Mindanao.
''For us, it (bringing in fossil plant barges) is not substantial due to its limited capacity as against the shortage though it can lessen, but in doing so they still need to find mooring sites and construct tie lines for the purpose,'' said Dagooc.
AMRECO already drew up a resolution asking the government to investigate the Mindanao power supply shortage due to the allegedly deteriorating hydro-power plants of Agus in Lanao and Pulangi in Bukidnon.
The resolution was crafted during the 1st Mindanao Congress in Cagayan de Oro City and copies of it were handed to Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chairperson Luwalhati P. Antonino and House Committee on Mindanao Affairs Chairman Rep. Arnulfo Go.
AMRECO asked the government to create a team. composed of technical experts and stakeholders, to look into the current generation capacity of Agus and Pulangi plants.
''We wanted to know what is really going on,'' stressed Dagooc.
In the same resolution, AMRECO stood firm on its opposition to the privatization of Agus and Pulangi hydro-electric plants, saying ''this will add burden to the consuming public because of the possible increase in high cost of power.''
AMRECO is requesting to compel the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) to unbundle the generation cost of National Power Corporation (Napocor)-Mindanao, adopting the position of Deputy Speaker Rep. Lorenzo R. Tanada III not to privatize the Agus and Pulangi plants, and the filing of House Bill creating a Mindanao Power Corporation to operate and maintain the Agus and Pulangi plants.
The hydro plants of Agus and Pulangi are the main sources of power purchased by ECs and distribution utilities (DUs) to provide electricity in Mindanao.
Due to the power shortage, some Mindanao electric cooperatives now are forced to buy power at some inland fossil plants, despite the high cost just to serve their clients of unstoppable power.
''We are buying power from a private producer because we don't want our economy in the region, especially our consuming public adversely by this power shortage,'' said Caraga Region Electric Cooperatives President Architect Horacio T. Santos, also general manager ofthe Agusan del Norte Electric Cooperative (ANECO).
Meanwhile, to lessen the current Mindanao power problem, the AMRECO suggested that the DOE should issue a memorandum compelling big industrial loads and manufacturing plants to transfer their bulk loads during off- peak hours so that the demand is almost flat in a 24 hour basis.
At present, the load spikes up between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. and, as such, the available capacity cannot cope with the load of residential customers.
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