Albay Rep. Joey Salceda on Sunday said said that he has reached an understanding with Malacanang and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to prevent the looming power rate increase in Albay due to the province’s overexposure to the spot market, whose electricity prices went up this quarter due to a thin supply and a sharp demand.
Salceda lauded Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and Cusi for their intervention to have a previous Department of Energy’s rejection of the power supply agreement reversed.
“Thanks to Sen. Bong Go and Sec. Cusi, the Department of Energy will issue on Tuesday a certificate of exemption from concentrating solar (CSP) to APEC for six months. This would enable them to engage in emergency power supply agreement (EPSA) and buy 100 percent from other suppliers at P6.70 instead of P13.47 at the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM),” he said.
“This would mean that electricity prices will not just go back to P9.40 from the current P13.20 to as low as P8.40 for July billings,” he added.
He said he has also talked to the Palace through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to ensure that President Rodrigo Duterte is informed about the situation.
“This intervention will keep the lights on in Albay, and possibly lower prices. It buys us six months to solve more structural issues with Albay Power and Energy Corp.,” he noted.
In a June 25 letter to Cusi, Salceda requested that the DOE would reconsider its May 27 rejection of the request for the EPSA.
“While I recognize the department’s prerogative, I request your urgent reconsideration of the matter, in light of the extraordinary circumstances that Albay is under. As a result of the decision to deny
the request for the COE, APEC/Albay Electric Cooperative In. is now required to source all its power requirements, reaching 40 MW at full demand, from rom the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (“WESM”) or now referred to as the Independent Market Operator of the Philippines (“IEMOP”),” the letter read.
“I am certain the department understands the implications of having an entire province’s energy requirement sourced from a market with highly volatile prices. The price of purchasing the base load, intermediate and peaking energy requirements from WESM is costly at this time, given the sharp increase in Luzon demand and the simultaneous generation plant outages that tightened Luzon power supply,” Salceda said.
“Without an EPSA to provide stable supply at predictable prices, Albayano power consumers are forced to pay higher monthly electric power bills due to the full exposure to WESM. Your reconsideration of the matter could protect them from a steep rise in prices, especially given this hour of great socioeconomic need,” he told Cusi.