FDC raps Capitol power bill hike By Manuel Boy Mejorada The Defensor administration committed a blunder in going

back to the old set-up and put taxpayers in a very disadvantageous position when it entered into a power supply agreement with the Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), a power industry reform advocate said yesterday. It was apparent the Iloilo provincial government was already enjoying the advantage of getting out the city grid being serviced by Panay Electric Co., and it is hard to understand why the Capitol went right back to it, Ted Aldwin Ong, secretary-general of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), said. Ong was guest yesterday in the weekly Kapehan sa Bali cable television and radio public affairs program at the still-to-be-opened Bali Hotel. At the same time, Ong said PECO rates remain the highest at P10.57 per kwh among major cities in the country notwithstanding a slight drop from the P13 per kwh average power rate. Bacolod consumers pay only P5.54 per kwh, Cebu P9.63/kwh, Davao P7.30/kwh, Gen. Santos 6.85/kwh and Metro Manila, which is serviced by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), P9.89/kwh, Ong said. We find it hard to understand why government isnt pushing for expanding the production capacity of the Palinpinon geothermal power plant in Negros Oriental and insist on fossil fuelbased generation plants like coal, Ong said. The reason Bacolod consumers pay only P5.54 is their proximity to the geothermal power plant in Palinpinon, he said. He said Panay island is close enough to the geothermal power facility to take advantage of the cheaper rates from the Green Core operated plant. Bad Decision Ong also described the Iloilo Capitols move to draw power from PEDC as a bad decision. This was apparent from the surge in the monthly power bill of the Iloilo Capitol from the time its contract with the Green Core Geothermal Power expired last Dec. 24. In January 2012, the Iloilo Capitol paid PEDC the amount of P1,984,236.52 for its first month under the new contract. It was a big leap from the P1,046,248 that the Iloilo Capitol paid Green Core for the month of December 2011 when the entire complex was ablaze with Christmas lights. For February 2012, the Iloilo Capitols power bill dipped slightly to P1,797,821.10, still a huge jump from the previous Decembers power bill with Green Core. Ong said FDC had written Provincial Administrator Raul Banias for a copy of the power supply agreement that the Iloilo Capitol had signed with PEDC early this month, but it has not received a response yet.

Ong said it should be explained why the Iloilo provincial government agreed to pay PEDC a rate of P10.54 per kilowatt hour, which is the PECO rate for government buildings and installations, when the average price of the power it supplies to PECO is only P7.00 per kwh. The difference of P3.54 per kwh is a substantial sum that could not just be taken for granted, he said. Gov. Arthur Defensor said he entered into this contract with PEDC because the old contract signed by former Gov. Niel D. Tupas Sr. proved more costly for the Iloilo Capitol. But as it turned out, the Iloilo Capitol is now paying at least P800,000 extra for its power bill every month compared with its power supply agreement with Green Core, Ong pointed out.