THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has started looking for possible pricing solutions to mitigate the impact of the damaged underground power line on all Mactan Electric Company (Meco) customers.
Officer-in-Charge Catherine Maceda, of ERC’s Office of the Chairperson and CEO, assured Meco that the commission is taking all the necessary steps in coming up with other appropriate solutions to the incident that damaged the cable of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
“The ERC recognizes the severity of the situation and has already begun studying possible pricing solutions to mitigate the impact of this incident on all Meco customers and locators in the ecozones,” said Maceda in a response letter addressed to Meco’s senior vice president and general manager Engr. Gilbert Pagobo.
Pagobo sent a letter to the ERC on February 6, requesting the commission’s intervention to direct the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market to suspend the effect increase in the line rental due to line congestion and other applicable charges attributable to the outage of Line 2 of the Cebu-Mandaue Transmission Line.
Joel Bontuyan, ERC Visayas Field Office Hub Operations Division chief, told SunStar Cebu Thursday, March 23, 2023, that their Market Operations Service has already made an internal memo that detailed its recommendations to the commission on what actions they may take.
Bontuyan stressed, however, that he has no idea yet as to what were the findings of the Market Operations Service.
He also stressed that he is not yet sure whether the memo was included in the regular commission meeting last Wednesday, March 22.
During their meeting with Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on Wednesday, NGCP representatives said the restoration of damaged transmission cable along Ouano and UN avenues is expected to be completed by May this year.
Garcia brought up the issue since Meco was also planning to hike its power rate as it affected its operations.
The governor advised Meco to look for other power sources to increase its capacity since the NGCP is also eyeing to resort to load shedding or rotational brownouts that would affect the power supply in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, according to Capitol news portal Sugbo News.
It was learned that the 138-kilovolt line 2 Cebu-Mandaue underground power line of NGCP sustained damage due to the road diggings done by the Department of Public Works and Highways in the area.
The governor is set to meet the representatives of NGCP and DPWH once again to discuss their next move. (MKG/ANV)