Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 27) — The National Electrification Administration (NEA) said residents of Occidental Mindoro can count on additional electricity subsidized by the government beginning Saturday.
\”By Saturday, we are sure that 5 megawatt capacity will be added up… Let’s not talk of reduced backlogs, but rather increase the hours of electricity supply from four, hopefully it can reach seven,\” NEA Administrator Antonio Almeda said on Thursday.
Alameda added that two generator sets will also be sent to Occidental Mindoro to deliver additional power to affected hospitals and schools in the province.
While no date has been set for the arrival of the generators, Almeda said they are in direct coordination with the Navy to deliver them as soon as possible.
In a statement on Wednesday, the NEA said the agency and Power Systems Inc. (PSI) agreed to operate the latter’s San Jose power plant, providing residents of Occidental Mindoro with five to six megawatts (MW) of free additional power supply for two months.
\”NEA will cover for the cost of operation for the first two months, that is the help we’ll get from the National Government in the person of President Bongbong Marcos,\” Almeda said, adding that it will not be passed on to the consumers.
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According to Almeda, the two-month deal is also to give the DMCI Power Corporation enough time to supply the 17 MW to Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative, Inc., subject to the emergency power supply agreement that will last until March 31, 2024.
He explained that there will be additional capacity of another 10 megawatts within the first 30 days and another seven megawatts within 60 days. This will result in extra 22 MW capacity to be added to the current 7.5 MW supplied by Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. (OMCPC), enough for the 29.5 MW energy requirement of the province.
Almeda also said electricity bills will be slightly higher in these two months compared to the regular rate which is subject to subsidy from the government.
\”Maybe you’ll ask me why two months? Because it will take us two months to roll out and install the 17 megawatt capacity. So after two months, hopefully the 17 megawatts are fully installed, all electric bills will be based on a true cost of generation rate,\” he said.
He added this arrangement is temporary.
\”If we get the CSPs (Competitive Selection Process) and PSA (Power Supply Agreement) approved and in place then they will be going back to their usual rate,\” he said.
The goal, Almeda said, is to have no \”brownouts\” after two months.
Meanwhile, Occidental Mindoro Vice Governor Anecita Diana Apigo-Tayag said she is hopeful for the timeline set by NEA.
“Sana nga po matuloy yung within two months na talagang totally mawala na yung brownout sa’min,” she said. “Pero nakikita namin na ipapasa nila sa amin yung true cost so meron na namang panibago kaming paghahandaan yun. Medyo mahal yung kuryente namin. Magiging isa kami sa may pinakamahal na kuryente sa buong Pilipinas.”
[Translation: We hope that power outages here will be gone in two months. But we see they will pass on the true cost to us so we will have to prepare for that. Electricity is quite expensive here. We will have one of the most expensive rates in the country.]
