PECO & PPC’s dilly-dally

“When you have grasped a problem clearly, face it with resolution,
for that is the way of the strong.”
- Kahlil Gibran

I can’t understand why PECO is not resolute in implementing the ERC order for it to reconnect to the NPC Panay Grid. More than five months have past but PECO is not so keen on forging its immediate reconnection to an alternative power source.

PECO and its supplier, Mirant’s Panay Power Corporation have been whining of their incapability (read: inefficiency) to supply the power needs of Iloilo City and the need to raise their rates. Now that the Energy Regulatory Commission ordered them to avail of NPC power, here they are dragging their feet.

But hey PECO and Mirant-PPC, as in the past, are also quick to implement part of the ERC order – that is the rate increase component of the decision! When it comes to rate increases, these greedy tandem are swift in their action but when it comes to the benefit of the consumers, they cannot be expected to move.

No less than the Operations Manager of NPC are saying that they have enough power to supply the deficiency (read: inefficiency again) of Mirant-PPC. According to NPC, they have at least 22 megawatts in excess power. That is way above the 3-megawatt shortage that Mirant-PPC cannot provide above its 79-megawatt capacity.

First and foremost, PECO and its partner Mirant-PPC have benefited and are benefiting from the blackout scare that they have been peddling themselves since more than a year ago. They have utilized this baseless dark scenario to condition the minds of the public to accept higher rates while they petition for the approval of the amendment of their power supply agreement with the ERC.

An immediate reconnection to the NPC Panay Grid will show that their blackout tactic was nothing more than that – a tactic, an underhanded ploy to deceive the consumers. Supported by their spokesperson in the city government, in the person of Mayor Treñas himself, PECO and Mirant-PPC may loose whatever credibility they have left (if indeed, there is something left).

Maybe that is why Mayor Treñas is so adamant to bring in another power barge – to “solve” his fake power blackout and cover up the reality that even without an additional power barge, there is enough supply in the Panay Grid. The solution is right in his own backyard but the mayor, to project that he is working, utilized some dramatics to convince no less than her (fake) Excellency Gloria Arroyo to bring in a new power barge.

Secondly, an immediate reconnection will also put a downward pressure on the rates as NPC power is way cheaper than the unreasonable rates of PECO and Mirant-PPC. Surely, we consumers will demand that PECO exhaust first the cheaper source before availing the expensive power of Mirant-PPC. Add to this is that there are power projects in the pipeline that will even increase the power available to the Panay Grid such as the uprating of the Negros-Panay submarine cable.

Well, PECO may say, we don’t earn from the generation charge for we simply pass the cost charged by the power producer to consumers. But let us recall that cross-ownership once openly ruled PECO and PPC. It means that at one time, it is an open fact that PECO owned part of PPC and PPC owned part of PECO.

Now, how can we be sure that PECO has indeed divested all its interest in PPC, as it declared? Isn’t it that it is also highly possible that such divestment was in paper only? And how about PPC, did it truly divest its share in PECO? With PECO and PPC’s history of greed, I wouldn’t be surprised if there in fact exist a continuing cross-interest in the two companies.

(Send your comments and reactions to: for text messages to 0919-348-6337; for e-mails to ianseruelo@yahoo.com.)