Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Four delinquent power distributors were penalized for failure to submit required five-year plans to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). The four distribution utilities are First Bay Power Corporation Inc. (FBPC), Albay Electric Cooperative Inc. (ALECO), Abra Electric Cooperative Inc. (ABRECO) and Maguindanao Electric Cooperative Inc. (MAGELCO). The four were ordered to pay P50,000 each for non-compliance, as provided for in Section 46 – Fines and Penalties of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA). “The ERC, under its investigation and enforcement function, will see to it that every stakeholder complies with all the relevant laws and directives issued by the ERC to promote and protect the long-term interests of the consumer,” ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar said. Following a request from the Department of Energy (DOE), the power regulator conducted a thorough investigation and issued a Show Cause Order (SCO) to the companies for their failure to comply with the submission of their respective Distribution Development Plan (DDP). But the ERC found no justifiable reason to absolve FBPC, ALECO, ABRECO and MAGELCO.

THE Department of Energy (DoE) has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to look into whether power plant operators are intentionally scheduling outages at the same time to bring up electricity rates.

A 15-member Japanese consortium from the food processing and storage industries will tie up with local partners with investments of up to $500 million to source agricultural and fishery products for export, particularly unagi, or eel.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) has formed a task force to resolve debt issues of ailing electric cooperatives (ECs), particularly of debt-ridden Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco). DOE spokesperson Pete Ilagan said the task force is composed of the DOE, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the local government units (LGUs). He said the task force would determine whether government would step in through NEA, the government agency mandated to provide total electrification on an area coverage basis as it pursues the rural electrification program. “NEA’s step in powers is just there to help improve the situation to make the EC viable. It is government’s way of assisting a utility, which is performing a public service. So if the task force sees public service is undermined because of some financial problems or management problems, it will be given attention through financial aid or through strengthening the management capability,” Ilagan said. Among ECs, Aleco is one of the ailing ECs for failing to meet financial and operational parameters, even after a year San Miguel Corp. (SMC) took over its management in 2013. SMC renamed Aleco as Albay Power and Energy Corp. (APEC). Ilagan said Aleco’s financial and management aspects will be scrutinized by the task force. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “We need to know the situation right now to determine how it got into that situation,” he said, noting the DOE had already ordered the task force to make a report. “We also have Read More …