Mindanao traders lose P30 M every hour of blackout

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  â€“ Mindanao’s business community has been losing some P30 million for every hour of power outage, according to members of the group.

This has prompted affiliates of the Mindanao Electric Power Alliance (MEPA) to convene in Davao City on May 18 to discuss the worsening power crisis in Mindanao, according to reports.

MEPA groups together 33 organizations, which are key stakeholders to Mindanao’s power sector, including the Mindanao Business Council (MBC).

The MBC is a member of the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee which President Aquino created in 2012.

MEPA is composed of local power distribution utilities, chambers of commerce and industry, capitalists of the power industry, and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

“Let us see what we can do to solve the problem,” MBC chairman Vicente Lao was quoted as saying.

The MEPA has been proposing reforms in the power business in Mindanao since 2012, according to Lao.

Lao said the Mindanao economy would suffer from the power woes now besetting the island if the problem is left unresolved.

Among the areas badly affected by the power crisis are the provinces of North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and neighboring areas in Region 12.

Vicente Baguio, spokesman of the Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco), said their power supply curtailment is expected to loosen up with the resumption of operation of one of two STEAG power plants in Misamis Oriental.

“We expect some increase in power supply that Cotelco is getting from this power supplier plus the augmentation supply from Therma Marine,” Baguio said, referring to the STEAG power plants and the private Therma Marine power plant in the Davao area.

Dan Zambrano, president of the Metro Kidapawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the business sector in Kidapawan City has been losing millions of pesos in terms of daily income due to the power outages.

Traders are apprehensive that the power crisis hounding Mindanao could get worse in the coming days with the diminishing level, due to the dry weather, of the water at Lake Lanao, whose downstream flow propels the state-owned hydro-electric plants supplying about three-fourths of the island’s daily power requirements.

Beth Ladaga, NGCP spokesperson, though said the STEAG plant was only able to provide 104 megawatts to the grid.

Ladaga said it will be the National Power Corp. (Napocor) which will determine the allocation of the additional power supply to the electric cooperatives and other power companies.

She said they are awaiting an advisory from Napocor in this regard as they monitor the situation on an hourly basis.

She added that the power curtailment has been reduced from 280 MW on Wednesday to 160 MW yesterday morning.

Marilyn Chaves, of the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco), said their load allocation has increased from 28 MW on Wednesday to 38 MW yesterday morning.

Chaves said Cepalco will come out with a new schedule for power interruptions but added that blackouts in the city will only be reduced from 7.5 hours to just seven hours.       – With Gerry Lee Gorit