CPPC cannot assure power supply to VECO

The Cebu Private Power Corporation cannot assure how long they can supply power to the Visayan Electric Company, after it reconsidered its plan to halt operations yesterday.

"There's power today, tomorrow and the next day. But I do not know exactly as to how long we can operate," CPPC general manager Rogelio Lim said yesterday.

With this predicament, Lim is urging the National Power Corporation to sell the true cost of electricity and stop bragging that it has enough power supply.

Napocor admitted that it is not selling the true cost of electricity as it only sells P3.28 per kilowatt-hour to VECO, even if the true price could range between P6 to P8 per kilowatt hour. The remaining amount is absorbed by Napocor itself adding to the ballooning deficit of the state-owned power firm.

CPPC on the other hand, based on their 1997 contract with VECO agreed to sell its power supply to the latter by at least two percent lower than that of Napocor's selling price to VECO.

The contract is valid up to 2012. But last June 3, 2004, both entered an interim agreement wherein CPPC will have their own pricing scheme, which could be lower or higher than Napocor's selling price to VECO. The agreement was supposed to end last June 2, but was extended up to November.

The problem arose after CPPC wants another extension of the extended agreement but VECO said, 'no more' saying that it will result to power rate increase.

Lim said that within the existence of that interim agreement, they have not suffered financial losses in their operation and he is still hopeful that such agreement will be extended, for them to continue supplying power to VECO.

But Lim said when everything fails, there is supposed to be Napocor, who can come to the rescue and for them to be allowed to shutdown its operation for awhile.

"Asa naman diay nang gipagarpar sa Napocor ug Transco nga Cebu will no longer have a brownout because of additional power from the Leyte-Cebu Interconnection Uprating Project?" Lim said.

Lim said CPPC only supplies 62 megawatts power supply to VECO and this is just a small figure as compared to the 200 megawatts additional power to the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid making it now to 400 megawatts.

Crispin Lamayan, Transco assistant vice president for systems operation had said only less than 180 megawatts was added to the previous power supply of 150 megawatts of the CNP grid. The entire CNP grid has only more or less 300 megawatts power supply.

Lamayan said a brownout is still expected once CPPC shuts down because the other power plants of Napocor are undergoing maintenance repairs. - Mitchelle P. Calipayan