AN ELECTRIC cooperative leader said that the group does not approve the privatization of the Agus and Pulangui Hydro Electric Power Plants (HEPP).
“Keeping these HEPPs in government will certainly moderate any price increase adjustments of power as Agus and Pulangui Plants will give a mix to the price of power that is lower,” Sergio Dagooc, president of the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (Amreco), Inc., said.
The group believes that the privatization of the two HEPPs will result to the loss of economic competitiveness of the power supply sector of Mindanao, particularly the economic competitiveness of commercial and industrial firms in the island that are energy-intensive.
This is one of the amendments of certain provisions of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) that the group hopes to lobby.
Dagooc said this is one of the issues that the group will discuss in its upcoming first summit next month.
This will be the first member gathering after Amreco’s two decades of existence.
In partnership with Mindanao Development Authority (Minda), the summit is themed “Federalism: Its Impact on Mindanao’s Electric Cooperatives and Member Consumer” which is scheduled on November 25 and 26 that will be held in this city.
Dagooc said the summit will serve as a leading platform for the island’s electric cooperatives in establishing a reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric services in support to the administration’s objective of alleviating the Mindanao crisis through a federal form of government.
Amreco also supports Minda’s proposal for the creation of the Mindanao Power Corporation (Minpocor) as a stand-alone government owned and control corporation that will manage the Agus-Pulangui complexes and raise sufficient funds to operate, maintain and improve the HEPPs efficiently.
“The creation of Minpocor is seen as a necessary measure to assure the full development and maximized utilization of the power resources of the region, ensure transparent and reasonable prices of electricity in the island,” Dagooc said.
The Amreco summit will also discuss issues on the provision of an Electric Cooperatives Disaster Management Fund to financially address the needed immediate rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure during disasters.
This is to continue the rural electrification programs in barangays and sitios and pave the way for the development of pragmatic policies and innovative strategies in energizing the countryside.
In the summit, the group will ask the government to review Republic Act (RA) 9511, which grants concession to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines where it enjoys different incentives, such as allowing the transmission company to pass on the different taxation and the level of expenditures passable and made chargeable to electric end users.
One objective to discuss is also to amend further RA 10531 by putting provisions retaining the ownership of the of electric cooperatives to its member-consumers and owners instead of allowing private companies to operate them in order to sustain the cheap cost of electric services granting that electric cooperatives are non-stock, non-profit when created under Presidential Decree 269.