Friday, June 13, 2008 Ledesma: Electrocuting Juday By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
FOR mouthing the script of Meralco's explanation on "system loss," movie icon Judy Ann Santos earned the ire of consumer groups who are hurting not only due to high cost of electricity but also of spiraling prices of prime commodities.
There seems to be nothing the matter in the attempt to explain why Meralco has to pass on to its consumers the so-called system loss but there is absolutely something wrong with the simplistic way that Juday or the script put across the message.
Early on, Meralco is trying to impress to the public that other power suppliers are also charging system losses. So why should she be singled out by Winston Garcia?
Juday presents a belabored simile. It's like buying a block of ice in a corner store, portion of which melts before you reach home. What is not said in the script is that the other power firms actually do not charge as much as Meralco does. I do not know of Veco in Cebu, but Davao Light & Power Company charges just about P0.40 per KWH for system's loss as against Meralco's P0.90. That's a whale of difference!
Meralco moreover tells its consumers that its is allowed by law to charge its clients what it lost to illegal connections and maybe cost of restorations if something happens in its distribution system. While that sounds imperious, the clients cannot really complain. It's like a take it-or-leave it sort of contract. And you know who will buckle down in this kind of negotiation.
My take in this is that while it is true that power firms are allowed to pass on to clients their systems losses, what I cannot countenance is for them to charge the maximum just because there is that ceiling of P0.90. There is something terribly wrong and unethical in this. National Power Corporation delivers power through Transco right in the doorsteps of Meralco. Meralco distributes this to its clients no sweat. It's akin to Davao Light in that Napocor generates hydropower from Maria Cristina in Lanao del Norte and hauls this to Dalight.
Along the way, there is understandably systems loss but Dalight does not shoulder this. This could be the reason why the utility firm charges only P0.40/KWH which to my mind should be reduced a bit more considering that it is not even running its standby generators anymore.
I won't violently argue if it charges more its subscribers in Panabo, Davao del Norte where Juday's script is aptly applicable.
Similar to Juday's block of ice, I would like to compare Meralco and its consumers' case to two adults out on their first date. As the woman is carried to her feet and melts before her Valentino she consented to let him plant a kiss on her cheek. But sensing she has swooned under his charms the lothario proceeded to rape her. That should explain the iniquitous maximum system's loss charges.
And you don't need to buy a block of ice from a corner store to comprehend the whys and wherefores of system loss. Juday's fans are angry over the consumers' campaign to boycott her films. It's either they are not aware yet that they are being raped or are enjoying the ordeal anyway.
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I go with the idea of Councilor Nilo Abellera and Carlo Bello to conduct a no-nonsense investigation of rice hoarding in Davao City. It's about time you stop dabbling on criminal investigation and cuddling lumads who are being used for political propaganda and to advance some quarters' ideological agenda. Not that I am against helping lumads but the better thing to do, as far as our lumad brothers are concerned, is to educate them what their rights are under IPRA law and the significance of Ancestral Domain on them. Leave the criminal investigation to the proper authorities. Our lumads are gentle people many of whom are either uninformed or misinformed. Either way they suffer as a consequence and the rub is that they are exploited.
As to the problem of rice hoarding, Councilor Bello must take a tight grip of the problem. We are in a situation where we have so much rice in the traders' bodega but too little to buy in the market. It's like suffering from severe thirst when we are neck deep in floodwater. It is a classic irony that needs to be addressed and corrected. The traders are telling us that they have to increase their prices because the price of oil has rocketed. This is adding insult to injury. Do not buy that crap Carlo. Price of diesel may have increased by P1.50 but commercial rice traders manipulated and increased the price by over 100 percent!
