Why import power when local power is cheaper?
This will be the Energy Development Corporation (EDC)’s pitch to keep the electric cooperatives in Negros island as their customers once their contracts with the National Power Corporation expire in December.{{more}}
Under the present power setup, the EDC supplies steam to the National Power Corporation, which will be used to run NPC’s power turbines. The NPC sells the power it produces to the electric cooperatives in Negros Island and beyond.
With the expiration of their contracts with Napocor, the electric cooperatives will be free to buy power from Independent Power Producers (IPPS), such as the Kepco coal-fired plant in Naga, Cebu.
EDC believes that they have an edge over IPPs because of their proximity to their customers.
EDC chief operating officer Richard Tantoco said their rates will be cheaper than those of other power companies because there will be no systems loss of 6 percent, it is value added tax-free, and it is clean.
Systems loss is the loss incurred in the transmission of electricity. The farther the power is transmitted from the source, the greater the losses. IPPs from Cebu, for instance, incur a six percent loss just for sending power to Negros Island via submarine cable.
Tantoco also said that under the renewable energy law, power bought from a green source like EDC, is VAT-free.
He said it makes sense for the EDC to first sell power to electric coops in the island before selling it to the rest of their 16 consumers all over the Visayas region.
He also said he believes it will be able to supply most, if not all, the un-served needs of the electric coops.
All the five electric coops in the island have bonded themselves into the Negros Power Supply Aggregation Group during a meeting held in Bacolod City earlier this month, NORECO 2 finance officer Dionefred Macahig said.
He said the group is negotiating as one with Green Corporation and hoping for a “one-island-one-rate” agreement includig the new terms and conditions for the sale of electricity.
NPSAG is composed of five electric coops: CENECO of Bacolod, NOCECO of Kabankalan, VRESCO of Victorias, NORECO 1 in Bindoy and NORECO 2 in Dumaguete.
NPSAG is headed by Edward Gasambelo of CENECO. (PNA/JG)
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