By JEN BAYLON
Power Watch Negros (PWN) Secretary-General Wennie Sancho expressed his disgust over high power generation charges being shouldered by consumers due to price increases in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) following the series of red and yellow alerts on the power grids.
“Why penalize consumers by making them pay for the failure of power generators?” Sancho said in a statement.
“The causer of the cost should pay the cost, not the consumers,” he added.
According to Sancho, one of the main reasons for the increase in power rates was the price hikes in the WESM last April, caused by “power supply concerns” or yellow or red alerts.
The alerts are raised when there is insufficient power supply on the grid, resulting in power interruptions.
“One of the factors that led the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines to declare a yellow or red alert was because of the unreliability of several generation plants to go on planned and unplanned outages,” he said.
The PWN secretary-general said the power rate hike is a “form of injustice” against the consumers, who are now reeling from inflation and the high cost of living, as it will cause the deterioration of their purchasing power.
“It is an added form of injustice to the consumers who are suffering from the inconvenience brought about by blackouts, insufficient ancillary services, ineffective system operations, under capacity and power plant shutdowns,” Sancho said.
“For the workers, it will reduce their minimum wage into starvation wages. Isn’t it an injustice when the poor becomes poorer and rich becomes richer?” he added.
The PWN secretary-general said power generating companies must bear greater accountability and responsibility in their commitment to the consumers.
“Owners of the generation plants are ecstatic on their material success as they reported their profit in billions of pesos at the expense of the consumers. The frustration of the consumers is exacerbated when the power generators announced to all and sundry their high profit margin,” he said.
Sancho also urged the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy to take action against power generation companies that do not maintain their plants in good condition.
“Erring power producers should be penalized with appropriate fines, even including revocation of their certificate for compliance and/or endorsement for their gross incompetence in failing to provide a crucial service in the midst of power crisis,” Sancho said.
“Generation companies do not have the incentive to improve their services by maintaining their power plants in good condition, training and hiring experts that can respond quickly to unplanned outages, purchasing spare parts and equipments needed for breakdowns and immediately having their generation plants up and coming,” he added./JB, WDJ