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Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Cebu companies start energy conservation
By Jessica B. Natad
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Some Cebu-based companies are now adopting cost-cutting measures on the use of petroleum products after accepting the fact that the prices of these goods have nowhere to go but up.
In an economic briefing, economist and business consultant Peter Wallace said the world will have to live with the increasing prices of petroleum products because of the depleting supply of oil in the world market in relation to demand.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) president Jon Ramon Aboitiz said in an interview that AEV’s shipping companies’ fleet has reduced its travel speed to cut on fuel costs.
Fuel accounts for 60 percent of the operating cost of AEV’s shipping companies—Aboitiz Transport System and Supercat Fast Ferry Corp.
He said AEV’s shipping companies were able to save some P5 million to P7 million monthly since earlier this year just on cutting the travel speed of their ships.
Slowed down
“We slowed down (the travel time of) our Supercat ferries to 40 minutes from 30 minutes. It does not make much difference, and it is better (for the customers) than increasing the (fare) rates,” Aboitiz said.
But Aboitiz admitted that the company has increased shipping rates just to “recover the operations cost,” which is expected to increase again with the implementation of the reformed value-added-tax (R-VAT) law.
Once implemented, R-VAT would remove the exemptions previously enjoyed by dealers and traders of petroleum products and electricity. Oil dealers are expected to pass the tax on to consumers.
In a separate interview, Waterfront Philippines Inc. (WPI) president Rexlon Gatchalian said the company is now working with the Visayan Electric Co. for a program that will enable WPI to save on the power consumption in the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino (WCCHC).
Bring down
He said some 12 percent of WCCHC’s revenues go to power consumption alone.
“We want to bring this down to one digit,” Gat-chalian said.
During the Cebu-leg of the government’s R-VAT road show, Energy Under-secretary Melita Obillo said slapping the VAT on petroleum products will regulate or lessen the use of petroleum in the country.
This will also lessen the country’s oil imports, resulting in savings on foreign exchange.
She also emphasized that the VAT on petroleum products is not anti-poor.
As a consumption tax, those who consume more are to be taxed more.
With the crisis in oil currently hounding the world, Obillo said the government is asking the private sector to use oil prudently and responsibly at the household, government, industrial, commercial and transport sectors.
Earlier, Cebu’s business community also urged the private sector to help in minimizing oil consumption through energy conservation measures.
Meanwhile, the government is also asking consumers to always ask for receipts to ensure that the VAT they paid for the petroleum products purchased will be remitted to the government and will be used for social services.
(September 27, 2005 issue)
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