Romblon council, mayors appeal to ERC to resolve power rate issues, avert power crisis

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) of Romblon and nine municipal mayors of Tablas Island on Tuesday appealed to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to help avert an impending power crisis in the province.

In a resolution unanimously approved on February 9, 2021, Romblon’s provincial board appealed for the early resolution of Suweco Tablas Energy Corporation’s (STEC) power rate petition to ensure steady supply of electricity amidst the pandemic and the coming summer months.

A similar plea to ERC chair Agnes Devanadera was also made by Mayors Riza Pamorada of Alcantara; Marietta Babera of Calatrava; Jovencio Mayor, Jr. of Ferrol; Lisette Arboleda of Looc; Lorilie Fabon of Sta. Maria; Arsenio Gadon of San Andres; Esteban Madrona of San Agustin; Elsie Visca of Santa Fe; and Trina Alejandra Firmalo-Fabic of Odiongan.

“During these times of pandemic, the need for stable and reliable power supply is significant in order to effectively prevent the spread of the virus. In addition, since most of our constituents are staying at home, curtailing the power supply will gravely affect them,” the mayors said in their joint appeal letter.

STEC, the lone power supplier in Tablas Island, earlier advised ERC and its customers that it would scale down operations by February 15, 2021.

The company cited hundreds of millions of pesos in business losses due to the regulatory agency’s interim power rate approvals.

The firm said the ERC-approved rates are insufficient to maintain its operations at current capacity.

Romblon Representative Eleandro Jesus Madrona made a similar plea.

"I understand that the combination of ERC's decision to charge solar rate for diesel in excess of the generation mix and computing the generation mix on a monthly basis led to SREC's massive losses,” Madrona said.

Sought for comment on the issue, ERC commissioner-in-charge Executive Director Florensinda Digal said the power industry regulator "will be evaluating the submissions and act accordingly."

While a power rate hike will increase electricity costs in the island, the lawmaker said this is better than having no power at all.

"On behalf of member-consumers of Tablas Island Electric Cooperatives, Inc., I’m humbly appealing to ERC Chair Devanadera to immediately resolve and give STEC’s final rate. Should power outages occur, this would be very embarrassing considering that it was President Duterte himself who inaugurated the Solar Plant of STEC in August 2019,” Madrona said.—AOL, GMA News