CEBU CITY—Kepco-SPC Power Corp. (KSPC) asked the Garcia and Aboitiz families of Cebu to be “reasonable and fair” in handling the power-supply deals between Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) and power plants also owned by the two families for the benefit of consumers in Metro Cebu.

KSPC executive vice president and chief finance officer Atom Henares said the company’s 200-MW coal-fired power plant in Naga City, Cebu, which is presently under construction, will serve as a “check and balance” in the power sector in the Visayas.

The Aboitiz and Garcia families coown Veco through their publicly listed firms Aboitiz Power Corp. (AP) and Vivant Corp., respectively.

The two companies are also co-owners of a 246-MW power plant also being constructed in Toledo City, Cebu, together with Metrobank Group’s Global Power and Formosa Heavy Industries. The grouping comes under the name Cebu Power Corp.

“Since the Garcia and Aboitiz families are  shareholders in both Cebu Power Corp. and Veco, it is in their and the public interest to make sure that pricing of power between the affiliated companies is reasonable and fair,” Henares said.

“Sourcing power from KSPC will provide the public with a price to benchmark the affiliated companies power rates,” he said.

Henares said KSPC went through public bidding in all its activities from the purchase of the power plant to the sourcing of fuel.

“This, therefore, ensures low cost and market-driven pricing,” he said.

Veco, through AP president and chief executive officer Erramon Aboitiz, earlier said they are willing to buy power from KSPC, as long as its prices are competitive.

Henares said that since the KSPC plant is located inside Veco’s franchise areas, Veco and its customers will save approximately P1 per kilowatt-hour in transmission charges.

“Power generation is very capital-intensive. A large part of project cost is the cost of capital. Because Kepco is one of the largest electric power companies in the world, it can finance the plant at a much lower cost than even the Philippine government can.”

Veco is further assured of reliability of supply, he said.

“KSPC agrees that Veco should buy from several power providers to diversify its sources and ensure reliability,” Henares said.

He said the delays in the KSPC project was partly due to the time it took for the project to obtain government permits.

KSPC officials said some 160 MW of their 200-MW capacity has already been closed through power-supply deals with several electric cooperatives in the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid.

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CEBU CITY—Kepco-SPC Power Corp. (KSPC) asked the Garcia and Aboitiz families of Cebu to be “reasonable and fair” in handling the power-supply deals between Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) and power plants also owned by the two families for the benefit of consumers in Metro Cebu.

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