ROTATIONAL outages continue as the Western Mindanao Power Corporation (WMPC) is still waiting for the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) to pay for at least one month of fuel consumption pending the resolution of the alleged over-billing conflict.

Jose Mari Torrejon, WMPC power plant manager, said a meeting was held last Friday, February 8, at the National Electrification Administration (NEA) office in Quezon City, during which Crown Investments Holdings Incorporated, which manages Zamcelco, raised the issue of over-billing by WMPC.

Torrejon said the NEA administrator reportedly advised Crown officials to pay so that WMPC can buy fuel, continue to operate and restore power supply to Zamcelco.

Torrejon also said that if Crown cannot pay for the entire past due account of P235 million, the WMPC is asking for a payment equivalent only to one month fuel consumption so that the WMPC’s power plant can operate.

“If they can provide us the payment for fuel, we can continue running the plant,” he said.

Crown officials said they still have to bring this up before the company’s Board of Directors for approval. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)