BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod is appealing to the management of Central Negros Electric Cooperative to account and settle thru refunds to its member-owner-consumers the differential amount caused by the recent extension of the KEPCO-SALCON Power Supply Contract and congestion and other charges attributable to the damaged submarine cable of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
The resolution authored by Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr. said that the management of CENECO has extended the power supply agreement (PSA) at a reduced capacity of 20-megawatt from a 40-megawatt power contract at the rate of P5.42 per kilowatt hour (KWH).
The Competitive Selection Process (CSP) rate recently conducted is at P3.29 per kilowatt hour, it said.
The resolution said Section 23 of Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA), and Section 4 (h), Rule 7 of the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of the EPIRA provide that a Distribution Utility (DU) shall supply electricity in the least cost manner to its captive market within its franchise area, subject to collection of retail rates duly approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
All Power Supply Agreement applications submitted by Distribution Utilities to the Energy Regulatory Commission on or after 30 June 2015 shall comply with the Competitive Selection Process in accordance with Department of Energy Circular No. DC2018-02-0003 (2018 DOE Circular) and its Annex “A,” it said.
Upon compliance with the Competitive Selection Process, the power purchase cost resulting from such compliance shall retroact to the date of effectivity of the complying Power Supply Agreement, but in no case earlier than 30 June 2015, for purposes of passing on the power purchase cost to consumers, the resolution said.
The Philippine Electricity Spot Market Corporation, which manages the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), has imposed congestion charges and other fees which were collected for the billing months of June to August due to the damaged submarine cable of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, the resolution said.
The Energy Regulatory Commission has acted favorably on the complaints of electric cooperatives and consumers in Negros and Panay to refund the consumers on the charges mentioned above due to the damaged Cebu-Negros submarine cable of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.*
