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Thursday, January 05, 2006
Trenas picks legal officer, 4 councilors for ERC hearing
By Lory Ann B. Bilbao
ILOILO City Mayor Jerry P. Trenas appointed lawyer Edgar Gil of the City Legal Office (CLO) and City Councilors Merci Drilon-Garcia, Julienne Baronda, Jed Patrick Mabilog and Joe Espinosa III to attend the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) proceedings on Panay Electric Company Inc.'s (Peco) petition for rate hike.
Trenas revealed this to the Iloilo City Hall Press Corps (ICHPC) Wednesday.
Trenas said his appointees will not stand as oppositors but as observers.
"What's the point in opposing when we are faced with shortage?" Trenas said.
"We will represent the Ilonggos," Baronda said.
Should the hearing be held in Manila, Baronda said that the City will spend for their airplane fare but they will personally shoulder their hotel accommodation and food expenses.
"We have families and friends there," Baronda said.
Meanwhile, Trenas said he sent a letter to ERC requesting that the said hearing be held at the SP Session Hall here.
Petition
Peco is petitioning the ERC for it to hike its rate.
Last September, Peco implemented the ERC's order for it to unbundled its rates. So, from P8 per kilowatt-hour, Peco only charged the consumers with P5 per kilowatt-hour.
Peco claimed that since then, were unable to pay the Panay Power Corporation (PPC) for the electricity it generates.
The PPC, on the other hand, confirmed this by saying that Peco has incurred P360 million in debt as of last year.
The Freedom from Debt Coalition - Iloilo Chapter (FDC) refuted this.
According to FDC Deputy Secretary General Ted Aldwin Ong, their data shows that historical sales of Peco in the year 2002 to 2003 average at 25 million kilowatt-hours per month. Computing the foregone income of P2 per kilowatt-hour, even at a high of 30 million kilowatt-hours per month for 2 billing cycles, FDC arrived at only P120 million (P2 x 30M kWh x 2 months), far from the P360 million figure "invented" by Arman Lapus, a PPC executive.
FDC added that from 2003 up to 2004, Peco earns P180 to P200 million in monthly revenues as generation charge. "Even if we deduct P60 million due to rate reduction, from an average figure of P190 million, there remains P130 million revenues in a month. For two billing cycles, that would be a total of P260 million generation charges. That is more than enough to pay PPC, granting the P360 million figure is factual.
(January 5, 2006 issue)
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