DOE to educate people about RCOA

  CEBU, Philippines - The Department Energy will be conducting information, education, and communication campaigns in the coming months to better inform the public about the Retail Competition and Open Access.

 Josefina Patricia Asirit, DOE undersecretary, said there is no guarantee that with the implementation of RCOA, power costs will not increase.

 “The government cannot make specific guarantee on the pricing because there are too many factors to be considered but what we can guarantee is that the government have mechanisms that ensure there will be no unfair competition and manipulation,” Asirit said in a press conference during the Energy Investment Forum.

 Earlier, Cebu workers under the newly-formed NAGKAISA vowed to campaign actively to lower the cost of electricity, expose the failure of the Electricity Power Industry Reform Act and fight against RCOA.

 NAGKAISA, the biggest broad labor coalition composed of 40 labor centers, federations and organizations, also denounced the “Open Access” policy of the government.

 NAGKAISA convenors said that under the present set-up, it is only the big industrial and industrial users who will benefit from open access.

 The RCOA is set to be implemented by the third week of October.

 Under the EPIRA law or the Republic Act 9136, OARC will create competition in the retail supply of the electric power sector. Under this scheme, customers are supposed to have a “free hand” to choose their power provider.

 Meanwhile, Asirit said Cebu will experience power shortfall by 2015, if there will be no power plants that will be put in place.

 Asirit however said that there are already “indicative projects” wherein investors are still in the process of documentation, land acquisition, among others.

 DOE won’t reveal yet what type of power plants are these as well as their locations as everything is still under process.

 As of June 2011, there are 13 power plants located in Cebu. Of the 13, five of these are coal-fired, three hydro-electric, and five oil-based.

 The entire Visayas-grid has 37 power plants with a total dependable capacity of 2,044.40 megawatt.  (FREEMAN)