THE Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) will start entering new power supply agreements (PSAs) for its forecast demand of up to 100 megawatts (MW) by next year through a competitive selection process (CSP).
Engineer Norman Pollentes, Ceneco corporate planning manager, in a press conference at the Northwest Inn in Bacolod City Wednesday, December 18, said the cooperative’s power contracts with various suppliers will expire within the next five years.
Pollentes said the utility has a protracted requirement for five years, but they are planning to reset from zero requirement by 2025.
“Even though the contracts will end by 2025, we can already start the negotiation and CSP for the procurement of our requirement,” he said, adding that there are power plants up for construction and will start operating in 2025.
“So, these power generators can still participate in the procurement process,” the Ceneco official also said.
Ceneco caters to the largest number of electric consumers in the province, including cities of Bacolod, Bago, Talisay and Silay, and towns of Murcia and Salvador Benedicto.
Data obtained by SunStar Bacolod from the cooperative showed that its existing PSAs totaled to about 138 MW.
It has a 40-MW and 24-MW power contracts with Kepco Salcon Power Corp. (KSPC), a coal-fired power plant in Naga, Cebu, which will expire in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Other PSAs of Ceneco include 20 MW from Green Core Geothermal Inc. in Negros Oriental until 2025, and 35 MW from Palm Concepcion Power Corp. in Iloilo also expiring in 2025.
For peaking, Ceneco also contracted 18.9 MW from Central Negros Power Reliability Inc. in Bago City, formerly Energreen Power Development and Management Corp., which is until 2032.
The power distribution utility is set to enter short-term contracts from 2021 to 2025 which will be reset in the latter year in time for the expiry of its existing PSAs.
The new contracts will be good for 10 years.
Pollentes pointed out that both short and long-term contracts will pass through CSP and are open to any qualified and competent suppliers, whether existing or new power generators.
Pollentes assured that through CSP, there will be no overcontracting on the PSAs. In fact, it will result in lower generation cost.
“During the time when Ceneco has contracted power supply with Kepco, the price was P5 per kilowatt hour including tax. The process was made through solicitation and negotiation,” he said, adding that “with competitive selection process, the price is only about P3.20 per kilowatt hour.”
Moreover, the forecast demand of 100 MW up for procurement with power generators is actually lower than Ceneco’s existing demand of 130 to 160 MW.
Pollentes, however, explained that at least 25 MW will be “migrated” as some big establishments especially malls will directly source their electricity from power generators.
Other requirements can be sourced by Ceneco from Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), Pollentes said.
“Overall future demand is actually higher than previous years mainly because of bigger load growth brought about by new developments in Bacolod City and other localities covered by the cooperative,” he added.