The Department of Energy (DOE) is planning to review the power situations in four island locations this year with hopes of resolving its ongoing supply problems.
“Our next islands to review will be Camotes, Masbate, Catanduanes, and Camiguin within the year. I hope we do not need to visit them,” Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said.
Garin said the replacement of the Siquijor power supply should send a strong signal to developers to provide reliable supply to consumers.
“Because if you are earning from the people, each Filipino pays. And if you’re not performing your duties, then you might as well not be in that business. We want investors or developers with integrity and patriotic investors. That’s your responsibility. If you want to do business in a public utility, then you should abide by your commitments,” she said.
“If you can’t, then we will find a way to replace that developer or that generation company or any type of business because that is not acceptable for the President. While you earn from the people, you make them suffer. So, that’s totally unacceptable,” Garin added.
The DOE chief said Siquijor’s power supply has improved following the government intervention to replace the supplier.
“So far, there hasn’t been any interruption, except for only minor—just a few minutes because of problems with infrastructure and distribution. But we’re happy with the result. Now, we have to upgrade the distribution lines,” she said.
Garin said 80 percent of the problem in Siquijor interruptions is from the supply of energy while 20 percent comes from the distribution lines.
“So, we fixed the 80 percent problem and now we’re trying to fix the 20 percent, which is the distribution lines that we have because it’s old and we need to recalibrate that so it can adjust to the growing demand of Siquijor,” she said.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. visited Siquijor on Friday for the ceremonial switch-on of the 17.8-megawatt New Siquijor Diesel Power Plants of Province of Siquijor Island Electric Cooperative (PROSIELCO) in the municipality of Larena.
The three new facilities—4.4 MW in Larena, 6.6 MW in Lazi, and 6.8 MW in Siquijor—were fast-tracked after the Energy Regulatory Commission revoked the authority of Siquijor Island Power Corp. (SIPCOR) to operate due to multiple violations amid the continued power supply problems in the island province.
The plants, with a dependable capacity of 12.25 MW and a 1.7 MW reserve against Siquijor’s 9 MW peak demand, guarantees continuous and stable electricity for households and businesses.
The plants were installed through the collaboration of National Electrification Administration (NEA), PROSIELCO, and the Cebu Electric Cooperative (CEBECO) I and III, and partner stakeholders.
