PECO wants to amend power supply agreement with NPC
Panay Electric Company Inc. (Peco) had requested the National Power Corporation (NPC) to amend their existing Non-Firm Power Supply Agreement after the latter only provides power to the lone power distributor in the city during off-peak hours.
Peco Senior Vice President for Operations Edmund O. Afzelius requested Atty. Cyril C. Del Callar, NPC's president, for the company's desire to amend the agreement since the available capacity for sale to them was limited to off-peak hours.
Afzelius' request was an off-shoot of last week's continued brown-out in the city though PECO is already interconnected with Transco. With the interconnection, Peco is already buying power to NPC. His request was dated August 17, 2006.
Based on Peco's records, the NPC provided 5 to 10 megawatts of power to Peco but on off-peak hours which starts from 1:00 am until eight in the morning. This does not address the power supply shortage in the city.
However, the NPC only based their load capacity and availability in the contract they have signed with PECO. Part of the contract states that "this agreement is for the sale of NPC unutilized electric energy from its Geothermal Power Plants in Leyte and Negros Oriental on as available basis."
With such provision in the contract, Afzelius said that "this was interpreted to mean that when your diesel plants start to cut in at around 8:00 am, the geothermal plants are no longer available. In which case, we are not allowed to avail power from your diesel plants after 8:00 am and before 11:00 pm. This results and will continue to result power shortage particularly during our day-peak in spite of our Grid connection."
Afzelius said they want to revise the agreement for them to buy power on an "as available" basis at anytime of the day. Peco wants to buy power from any of the NPC's power plant regardless of technology or fuel use.
Peco also requested the NPC for a five to 10 megawatt of available capacity for sale from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm daily using non-firm Visayas Grid rates. Peco received its Certificate of Approval to Connect on August 10, 2006 and their Interim Service Agreement with Transco on August 15, 2006. This paved way for them to buy power from the Grid last August 15, 2006.
On the other hand, Mayor Jerry Treñas said he is quite disappointed with what happened last week. He earlier made pronouncements that there will be no brown-outs in the city after the interconnection is in effect.
Treñas lamented that NPC provided power during off-peak hours where people are already at home and resting. The peak hours starts when the offices and malls opened and this is the time we need additional power.
With all the hitches, Treñas said he was assured by Atty. Del Callar that they can provide such power even during day-peak hours. This remains to be seen, he said.
The chief executive also said Power Barge 101 which is supposed to arrive in Iloilo last Friday was dispatched to Cebu City. Cebu needs the barge for the forthcoming ASEAN meeting. The barge will be in Iloilo after the conference.