A veteran lawmaker has called on the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to summon officials of Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) and Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) to shed light on the recent massive power outage in Western Visayas.
PEDC and PCPC, the major power generators in the region, should explain in detail the power outage that lasted for four days, according to Senator Chiz Escudero.
“I want them to explain the unscheduled shutting down of their plants and why it took a longer-than-usual period to bring the power supply back. For PCPC, I cannot understand why it took them four days to resupply power instead of just four hours, which is the usual time to resupply power in cases of maintenance shutdowns,” he said.
“If their explanation is found wanting, they should be penalized for the business losses they created because of the blackouts. This is necessary so that other power generation companies or gencos will exercise more care and prudence in the operation of their plants as well as compliance with existing regulations,” Escudero added.
The region plunged into darkness on Janaury 2, which according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) was mainly due to the “unscheduled maintenance shutdowns of the largest power plants in Panay Island.”
The power supply was stabilized on January 5 after PCPC’s 135-megawatt (135-MW) coal-fired power plant synchronized back to the grid.
Escudero stressed that a thorough investigation is necessary to avoid similar occurrences in the future and avoid surge in prices of electricity.
“Power has three components–generation, transmission and distribution. All three must be looked into in order to have a complete picture and not simply do finger-pointing on how to prevent a similar occurrence from happening again in the future,” he said.IMT
