Cebu assured of 'bright' Christmas

CEBU, Philippines - It would still be a bright Christmas for Cebu if there wouldn’t be any major breakdowns in the existing power plants supplying energy here, despite gloomy reports that energy insufficiency would continue until the next year.

Ricky Lacson, Visayan Electric Company vice president for administration and customer Services, in an interview said that most of the power plants and facilities generating power for Cebu is already old wherein it causes breakdowns and power shortages.

Lacson said that is part of the reason why Cebu has experienced power shortages in the past months with also the negative supply and the insufficient energy reserve which has been reported by the Department of Energy-7. This follows also after the increasing demand of energy for the whole province of Cebu. But Lacson said that with the help of the energy saved through the Interruptible Load Agreement participated by large companies here, more of the power shortages would be prevented.

Lacson said that more of the big companies like hotels, malls and manufacturing firms have extended their interest in participating in the program.

He said that they are also pleased with how companies are making amends in their daily operations in terms of the change in time of use of energy.

Lacson explained that there is a peak time for the use of energy which is 9 to 11 a.m., 2 to 4 p.m., and 6 to 9 p.m. He said that they are happy to learn that some companies are finding ways to adjust their operating time and have done it possible not to use too much energy during these peak times.

Lacson added they are also appealing to the public that the use of energy at these times should also be minimized. He said that this would be a very big help in the conservation of energy.

Further, Lacson said that the extra energy supply that would be provided by new plants next year would be a great help like the 105 megawatts supply to be produced by the Cebu Energy Development Corporation from its three 82MW coal-fired power plants in Toledo City.

Lacson said that it would have its first unit operational by the first quarter of 2010 followed by another two units in the second quarter and in the end of 2010. For the meantime, Lacson said “as long as our plants are all functioning, we will be alright and if we don’t have any major breakdowns in the coming weeks, we will still have a bright Christmas.” – AJ de la Torre/MEEV   (FREEMAN NEWS)