AFTER months of enduring power outages and power plant shutdowns, energy stakeholders on Friday directed power providers to deliver available power supply to Occidental Mindoro.
Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan of the Department of Energy (DoE) said during a meeting with energy stakeholders on Friday that as a short-term solution, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has allowed the National Power Corp. (NPC) to immediately deliver the 10 megawatts (MW) power supply upon complying with the requirements to operate.
The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has also provided an emergency loan of P50 million to the Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Omeco) for the fuel procurement of Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. (OMPCC).
The OMCPC earlier informed Omeco of a possible plant shutdown due to the unavailability of fuel. The OMCPC said it will continue its operations until fuel lasts and will immediately use the P50 million to reorder fuel.
The OMCPC added that the Sablayan plant with 5 MW to 7 MW will be connected to the Omeco grid within two weeks.
A total of 24 MW from NPC and OMCPC is being delivered at press time. The daily power demand of the entire province, however, is around 27 MW.
Meanwhile, the NEA and Omeco planned to look for potential power suppliers to fill the gaps in power supply deficiency.
The Energy department said that all concerned agencies are also eyeing long-term solutions on the power situation in Occidental Mindoro.
For the meantime, the energy stakeholders set aside the penalty and subsidy issue to first give short-term solutions to the power crisis in the province. However, the ERC said that it will review the Universal Charge for Missionary Electrification penalty imposed on Omeco.
It was noted that on March 25, 2022, the ERC ordered Omeco to shoulder the 50-percent difference between the true cost generation rate (TCGR) and subsidized amount of generation rate (SAGR) to be paid to its power provider, OMCPC, over a delay of two years in the conduct of the CSP in sourcing power supply.