Major businesses urged to join deloading scheme

CEBU, Philippines - Amid the recurring problem of power shortage in the province, the Provincial Board is calling on major business establishments in Cebu to take part in the Interruptible Load Agreement – a deloading program proposed earlier by the Visayan Electric Company.  

In a resolution, the Board said the ILA is seen “to minimize brownouts and further improve the energy supply here in Cebu.”

At the start of the month, with the energy supply getting scarcer by the day, VECO’s vice president for administration and customer services Ricky Lacson appealed to Cebu’s major establishments to take part in the ILA.

Under the ILA, all stakeholders agreed to de-load from VECO and other distribution utilities when the need arises. The concept also calls for establishments to generate their own power during power shortages so that other consumers won’t have to suffer brownouts caused by power shortages.

The energy that is supposedly for these establishments could then be distributed to areas where there are shortages.

VECO implemented the ILA after foreseeing that the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid load could not sustain the increasing need for power of the entire region. The Cebu-Negros-Panay grid is the biggest source of energy the Central Visayas.

The deloading agreement, which was signed last January, was first implemented last March 31.

So far, around nine major stakeholders have partnered with VECO, among which are SM, Ayala, San Miguel, and Elizabeth Mall.

Earlier, the Cebu Energy Development Corporation announced that the province’s energy supply has been negative since the start of this year and that it is in critical condition.

This was also echoed by VECO, which said that Cebu ’s power supply reached critical state in the past few weeks. – Liv G. Campo/JMO  (FREEMAN NEWS)