Visayas gets brief power rate hike breather

By Kit Bagaipo & Carla Gomez
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Regulatory Commission (ERC) reduced on Wednesday a temporary power rate increase it granted to the National Power Corp. (Napocor) for the Visayas grid from P1.1 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 83 centavos, a drop of about 30 centavos.

ERC Executive Director Francis Saturnino Juan said the commission issued the new rate order after it received testimony on the rate hike at hearings conducted in Cebu City Thursday and Friday last week.

However, Juan said the ERC would still hold a hearing in Cebu City on April 21 on the petition of Napocor and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) for an increase of P1.38 per kWh in the basic generation charge in the Visayas, or an increase of nearly 50 percent from existing rates.

Last week, the Negros Occidental and Bacolod City governments filed their formal opposition to the rate increase at the ERC hearings.

Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco said on Wednesday that the provincial government would support Joemax Ortiz, a lawyer crusading against the rate increase, in filing a petition at the Court of Appeals (CA) to prevent the implementation of the provisional power rate while the hearings on the Napocor petition are being held.

“I will draft the petition to be filed by the provincial government before the CA and sign as collaborating counsel,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz and Romeo Lavilla, a former councilor of Silay City, represented the Negros Occidental provincial government at the ERC hearing in Cebu last week.

They have also started a signature campaign against the power rate hike in the Central Negros Electric Cooperative coverage area. “We hope to gather from 5,000 to 10,000 signatures,” Ortiz said.

The Bohol provincial government and the Bohol Electric Cooperative (Boheco) also expressed opposition to the proposed power rate hike.

In a resolution adopted on Tuesday, the provincial board called the power rate hike “untimely” because consumers are already suffering from the global recession.

The board also noted in its resolution that the increase comes at a time when fuel prices are dropping.

In a statement, the Boheco also questioned the power rate increase, saying the basis for the increase was “questionable.”

Boheco said the Napocor claimed to be in financial distress but had a P136.07-billion income in 2007.