ERC revokes Villar power company permit in Siquijor

Metro Manila, Philippines - The Energy Regulatory Commission has revoked with immediate effect all provisional authorities to operate granted to a power generator owned by the Villar family in Siquijor province for “multiple violations of operational and regulatory compliance requirements” amid the power crisis in the island province, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin announced on Friday, Aug. 29.

In a press briefing, Garin said failure of the Siquijor Island Power Corporation (SIPCOR) to address the power supply situation has had a severe impact on the livelihood of people, and affected the delivery of essential services.

“The DOE (Department of Energy) and NEA (National Electrification Administration) mobilized additional gensets to help ease the power situation, while at the same time, requiring SIPCOR to make significant improvements on its operations.

“However, despite being given sufficient opportunities to address their shortcomings even up to the expense of the government, SIPCOR up to today has failed to improve,” she said, citing President Bongbong Marcos’ directive on June 11.

Garin said end-users still suffered an average daily outage of six hours over limited generation capacity from June 16 to Aug. 25.

She noted that before the president’s visit, customers endured rotating brownouts that lasted an average of 11 hours per day or 31 outages monthly, forcing the province to declare a state of calamity in the first week of June.

Garin said “unstable plants caused power interruptions on every single day from July 20 to August 4 with outages exceeding seven hours a day on five separate days during this period.”

The power distributor also failed to maintain its minimum fuel inventory, she said.

Marcos earlier set a six-month deadline for SIPCOR to address the crisis and carry out a permanent solution.

Garin said emergency power supply agreements were signed by Siquijor's distribution utility, Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative, Inc. (PROSIELCO), with new power provider, TotalPower Inc., last week.

“SIPCOR has now been directed to cooperate and synchronize its plants' shutdown with the commercial operations and synchronization of the new generating units to PROSIELCO's distribution lines,” she said.

“Today's order to shut down the plants puts an end to SIPCOR's operations and the disruption that it has brought to the people of Siquijor,” the secretary added.

Garin said her department is studying possible legal actions against SIPCOR.

She said due process was observed in terminating the power supplier permit to operate.

“This is not a political action…Hindi po ‘to biglaan. [This was not sudden] We have been doing this, monitoring this everyday for the past 75 days,” she said.

SIPCOR has yet to issue a statement on the ERC decision.