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Saturday, October 29, 2005
Clark firms keep P2.3M in power rate cut
CLARK ECOZONE -- The Clark Development Corporation (CDC) said Friday commercial and industrial locators in the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) saved about P2.3 million last month with the reduction of power rates.
Building and Urban Regulatory Department (BURD) manager Mariz Mandodoc of CDC said Clark now enjoys an average effective rate of P5.31/kwh compared to the P6.94/kwh rate in June to July 2005 before the National Power Corporation (Napocor) granted the reduced rate, or a reduction of 23.41 percent.
Mandodoc said the reduced rate resulted in savings of P2.3 million last month in the electricity consumption of the more than 250 operational firms composing of commercial, industrial and tourism projects inside the Clark economic zone.
The CDC official said due to the savings, members of the Clark Investors and Locators Association (Cila) cited Energy Secretary Rafael Lotilla and other attached agencies of the Department of Energy (DOE) for giving the ecozone the country's lowest power rates aside from a steady supply of quality electricity in Clark.
Napocor president Cyril del Callar, Transco president Allan Ortiz, Clark Electric Development Corporation (CEDC) Jesus Francisco and officials of Cila and CDC also expressed gratitude to the efforts of the DOE officials to provide the reduced power rates and steady supply of electricity inside the ecozone.
Cila chairperson Carmen McTavish lauded the collective efforts made by the government to allow them to enjoy reduced power rates in Clark since July 26.
Aside from the reduced power rates, Mactavish and Cila president Lena Villarama also expressed their gratitude to the agencies responsible for the improvement of power transmission and distribution facilities in Clark, which benefited all establishments in the economic zone.
CDC president Antonio R. Ng said the five months of negotiations with various government agencies were crucial because these would be an additional attraction to other would-be investors to locate in Clark due to the quality and reliable infrastructures available to service their needs.
Ng said the success of CDC in availing of the reduced powers and steady supply of electricity was achieved because of the collective efforts of Cila members to make Clark zone as a viable investment destination as envisioned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her 10-point agenda.
He also cited the contributions of Transco to improve the quality of power in Clark zone by installing last August 29 a second alternate 69 KV line for Clark to provide Clark steady electricity once the aging KV line bogged down.
He clarified that "this means when the original Transco portion of the 69 KV line requires a long eight hour shutdown for preventive maintenance, we can readily switch to the alternate line in a matter of 30 minutes."
He added that a technical working group composed of Transco, CEDC and CDC officials meet to implement other measures that would improve the quality of power in Clark, among them the repair of the On Load Tap Changer at the Mexico plant and possibly, the installation of a new 230/KV or 69 KV line for the zone.
To reduce power interruptions in Clark, Ng also reported that CEDC, with the assistance of the CDC engineering crew, pursued an aggressive tree trimming activity that cleared the power lines of vegetation obstructions. As a result of the activity, from 26 power interruptions due to trees recorded in May, only seven were reported in June and two in July in spite of several episodes of heavy rains.
From August and September, there was no more power interruptions in the zone caused by trees, he said.
Although power rates and steady supply of electricity, the CDC president assured Clark zone investors of its continuing efforts to further make rates in Clark more competitive without compromising the quality and reliability of electric supply in the zone. (DMF)
(October 29, 2005 issue)
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