SOLIDARITY WALK Residents of San Jose City, Mindoro Occidental, hold a solidarity walk protesting the power crisis in the province on Saturday, July 16, 2022. PHOTO BY NIKKI DE LOS REYES
OCCIDENTAL Mindoro is expected to experience fewer rotational brownouts as a power provider delivered a 20-megawatt power supply on Friday out of the 27 MW peak load requirement.
Chief Operating Officer Calvin Luther Genotiva of Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. said in an interview with The Manila Times that the OMCPC has operated at full capacity its 20-MW bunker power plant after receiving orders from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) dated March 25, 2022 and June 23, 2022.
In the meantime, it will be supplying 20 MW while waiting for a certificate of compliance (CoC) to be issued by the ERC for the OMCPC's two power plants: the 7 MW in Mamburao, Paluan, Sta. Cruz, Abra de Ilog (Mapsa) area and the 5 MW in Sablayan area.
When ERC was asked if the two plants could be operated in the absence of the CoC, it replied,"We are waiting for their advice on their readiness for testing. Plant[s] [are] not yet ready."
The OMCPC noted that "there is still a financial issue that we have to face. Our fuel stock is only up to August 6."
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Genotiva said there are still collection issues with the Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Omeco) and National Power Corp. as the NPC stopped giving subsidies in July this year.
The OMCPC cannot reorder fuel without funds or at least assurance of payment.
When also asked if payments of the Omeco could be used to restock fuel, Genotiva said, "Binayad ko na (We have paid) for last month's order, partial. My fuel bill is more than 200 million [pesos] a month. May (There are) other operating expenses pa. May bank amort[ization] pa. Ipit lahat (Everything's in a bind)."
Omeco resorted to implementing more than three hours of rotational brownout twice a day starting July 30, 2022 after the OMCPC operated at full capacity its 20-MW bunker power plant and a current 1 MW from Pag-asa Renewable Energy Corp.
The ERC, in a press statement also on Friday, said timely actions were issued in the Omeco's case.
In its bid to address the rotational power outages being experienced in the province of Occidental Mindoro and alleviate the plight of electricity consumers, the ERC provided timely resolutions on the various motions filed by Omeco pertinent to its sourcing of power from generation companies that they had entered into contracts with.
"The commission is fully aware of the urgency to resolve the issues involving the Omeco's power supply agreements (PSAs), and we do not want the Omeco's member-consumers to take the brunt of its failure to enforce its contractual obligations. As such, we see to it that the commission issues the necessary resolution as soon as practicable," ERC Commissioner Alexis Lumbatan said.
In a recent meeting with Occidental Mindoro Rep. Leody Tarriela and Gov. Eduardo Gadiano, the ERC said it issued the appropriate resolutions in a timely manner on the various motions filed by Omeco consistent with the commission's regulatory policies.
The meeting accorded the ERC the opportunity to brief and discuss the events that transpired that led to Omeco's current power supply issues.
Meanwhile, Omeco recently filed an urgent motion for clarification on the ERC's notice of resolution dated June 23, 2022.
The ERC, in its meeting with Tarriela and Gadiano, undertook to act on Omeco's urgent motion expeditiously in order to address the power supply shortage in Occidental Mindoro.
It said that though its previous orders were clear, it is now incumbent upon Omeco and the OMCPC to abide by the contracts that they had entered into.
The ERC previously directed Omeco to source power from the OMCPC in accordance with the provisions of the three PSAs it executed in January 2022 in order to address its total load requirements and to ensure continuous and unhampered supply of power within its franchise area.
Omeco had been repeatedly directed by the ERC to be vigilant in protecting the interest of its consumers in terms of providing updates on its commercial operations date.
Since 2017, the ERC has issued about 10 orders with the instructions to Omeco on the directives, and around seven times granted an extension period for it to comply with the orders.
"We wish to emphasize that the Omeco's contractual obligations must now be upheld and enforced in such a way that no act of extension or sanction from the commission would be necessary. The parties themselves have freely and willingly bound themselves by entering into that contract. As such, obligations arising from the contracts must be complied with in good faith as the same are binding between the parties," Lumbatan said.
The province was placed under a state of power crisis on July 15, 2022 because of shortage of power supply.
It has endured six to 14 hours of power outages for one month because of the shortage affecting thousands of residents.
source：manilatimes
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