Thursday, August 21, 2008
Power theft rampant in 14 brys.; Veco ‘lectures’ dads on bill details
POWER pilferage is rampant in 14 mostly depressed barangays of Cebu City, the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) told the City Council yesterday.
Officials of the utility firm and those of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the National Transmission Corporation (Transco), among others, appeared in the regular session to enlighten the City on an electric bill’s components.
In particular, Veco external legal counsel Joan Baron and chief finance officer Ma. Chona Tiu briefed Vice Mayor Michael Rama and the city councilors on system losses from generation to distribution to consumers.
They reported that power pilferage is most prevalent in Barangays Ermita; Suba; Pasil; Mambaling, particularly in Alaska, Wang-Yu, Viking and San Roque; Lorega-San Miguel; Carreta, particularly in Ponce Compound, Osmeña Cemetery, Carreta Cemetery, and Chinese Cemetery; Tinago; Mabolo; Luz; T. Padilla; Tisa; Labangon; Apas, especially in Sitio Baca; and Banilad, particularly in the CRCI compound.
They also said power theft is prevalent at the Carbon Public Market.
Power pilferage is identified as a non-technical system loss, along with energy lost through inaccurate meters.
The problem persists, Tiu said, because of difficulty in getting electrical permits, required electrification in areas without proper access to power, low conviction rate, and leniency in penalties by judges, and natural propensity by people to commit crime.
Rama, though, asked Veco if there is a way to help consumers legally get electricity without the building permit requirement imposed by the City Office of the Building Official.
The council again asked Veco why electricity for its substations and buildings are charged to administrative system loss, which is passed on to consumers.
Baron said it is allowed by the ERC. Tiu, though, said that free electricity given as privilege to Veco personnel is not charged to system losses.
She also mentioned technical loss, which is energy lost as wires and transformers heat up when electricity flows from one point to another.
Ethel Natera, Veco spokesperson, said they have spent P635 million since 2006 just to bring down system losses, which Veco managed to do from 13 percent in 2002 to 9.62 percent, or 178,996,217 kilowatt hours, as of June 2008.
Efforts include the 85 percent conversion of primary lines from 4.16 kilovolts (kv) and 13.8 kv to 23 kv., installation of new substations, installation of larger wires, and constant checking of meter accuracy.
“Higher voltage (of primary lines) means lower system loss. We have done so much to improve the system,” Natera said.
Veco and the government, with its revenues from power distribution and generation, were asked if they could just bear system losses without passing them on to consumers.
For Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem, council committee on energy chairman, the government should revisit and amend Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
In particular, he said, the “value-added tax on system losses and other items should be eliminated, and metering charge should be either fixed or variable (it is both currently) even if it is obvious that the cost of reading meters is constant for all.”
When discussion shifted to universal charges for missionary electrification and environmental charge, city council members wondered why Veco could not provide power to the outskirts and far-flung areas of the city using the same funds.
But Tiu said they merely serve as “collectors” for the government’s Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (Psalm), which receives the payments.
She said Veco remitted to the Psalm P5.56 million for missionary electrification and P374,000 for environmental charge last July, or a monthly collection of almost P6 million.
The council agreed to summon Psalm officials on where the universal charges, particularly that on missionary electrification, go, realizing that Cebuanos are burdened with payments not used in Veco’s franchise area.
“Missionary electrification must be on the same area as the utility firm and must have programs aimed to benefit the urban and rural poor and truly be missionary in nature,” Jakosalem said. (RHM)
Business Process Outsourcing: Prospects and Challenges for Cebu’s Economy
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 21, 2008 issue)
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