"Maybe PECO should just accept its fate."
Panay Electric Company appears to be losing its battle on all fronts.
Early this week, the Energy Regulatory Commission clarified that More Electric and Power Corporation, or simply More Power, is among the distribution utilities that comply with the mandated system loss cap. This amid the accusation hurled by Koalisyon Bantay Kuryente, reportedly a PECO ally, against More Power of high systems loss that it charges to its customers.
According to ERC chairman Agnes Devanadera, the commission strictly monitors the compliance of the distribution utilities to the system loss cap.
Under the ERC rules, DUs are required to submit their system loss reports monthly. These should include a sworn statement and annual report which shows their respective systems loss, which is used by the agency to monitor their compliance.
In 2018, ERC implemented a system loss cap of 6.5 percent to all DUs with the aim of lowering the electricity costs of consumers as mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act and improving the services of power distributors.
According to Devanadera, the lowering of the system loss caps is a move to bring down the power rates and help electricity consumers mitigate the impact of rising costs of commodities and services. This, Devanadera says, will encourage distribution utilities (DUs) to improve their distribution system and facilities so that they adhere to the newly-prescribed system loss cap.
Recall that More Power chided PECO for using its ally KBK to show that its system loss reached 7.1 percent, higher than the 6.5-percent cap set by ERC.
More Power said the system loss it passes on to consumers is only at 6 percent, clearly below the 6.5 percent cap.
More Power committed to its 65,000 Iloilo power customers that it will continue to bring down its systems loss within the next three years as it implements its P1.8-billion modernization program.
There are two types of system loss. First is technical losses during the transmission of electricity from the generation company to the DUs. If the distribution system is efficient, there is a lower change of technical losses.
The second is a non-technical system loss of losses due to pilferage through "jumpers" or illegal connections, which are charged to customers under the system loss charge.
In 2017, Iloilo City registered the highest system loss among all private utilities around the country, reaching 9.93 percent.
At that time, PECO's generation charge was also highest at that time at P2.50 per kilowatt hour, higher than other urban centers like Manila, Cebu and Davao. Electricity charges in Iloilo City under PECO was highest compared to 70 countries around the world, which is the result of old and deteriorating distribution lines, transformers at substations built during the 1970s and the proliferation of around 30,000 illegal power connections.
With nary a victory to show off despite the number of legal actions it had taken to regain Iloilo’s power distribution, maybe it’s about time PECO accepted its fate and simply moved on.
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Despite the pandemic, the Philippines continus to earn accolades in the field of tourism. This time, the country received the award as the Best Overseas Diving Area in the Marine Diving Awards 2020 held recently in Tokyo.
Garnering 814 out of the 3,572 total votes cast by subscribers of the Marine Diving Magazine, the Philippines was number one for the first time in the Overseas Diving Category. The magazine cited the Philippines as “a first pick for many diving lovers.”
The award was given in ceremonies at the recent Marine Diving Fair 2020 in the district of Ikebukuro in Tokyo.
“This award is a testimony that diving is more fun in the Philippines, with each underwater paradise offering a unique adventure and experience to behold, and return to. Our underwater landscape is a colorful kaleidoscope of nature's living jewels, one that divers cannot find anywhere else," Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo- Puyat said.
Marine Diving Magazine cited the diving sites in Cebu, Bohol, Moalboal, and Busuanga which are teeming with whale sharks, snappers, dugong, other big fishes, large schools of sardines and long mackerels, and other rare and endemic species. These diving sites, the magazine said, have “captured the hearts of many divers and make them want to revisit the Philippines again and again. And with its easy access from Japan and reasonable tour prices, the Philippines is no doubt a first pick for many diving lovers.”
Among the other popular diving sites in the country are Malapascua off the northern tip of Cebu Island, Anilao in Batangas, Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, Donsol in Sorsogon, and Dauin in Negros Oriental. It also includes the Apo Reef Natural Park on the western waters of Occidental Mindoro, the world's second largest contiguous coral reef system, and the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park which is a UNESCO-declared World Heritage Site.
The Philippines has bagged similar awards such as both Asia and the World’s Leading Diving Destination Awards in the Prestigious World Travel Awards in 2019.
Congratulations Philippines! And of course, to the Department of Tourism for a successful promotion of the country’s dive sites.