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THE
National Power Corp. (Napocor) will sit down with Manila
Electric Co. (Meralco) to study options how it can
provide stable power supply at affordable rates.
Napocor
hopes to replicate the special rates it will soon offer
to 10 industrial estates and three economic zones.
“Coming
from what we earlier signed with Meralco, it gives us
also inspiration to consider offering beyond the
industrial rate to Meralco for its commercial and
residential customers soon,” Cyril C. del Callar,
Napocor president, said.
In an
interview,
del Callar clarified to the BusinessMirror that the
details of forthcoming offering will still have to be
set for discussion with Meralco.
Though
sustaining the Napocor’s financial turnaround in the
past two years remain to be a challenge, according to
del Callar, its (financial turnaround) benefits must be
felt by all consumers.
“Definitely the bottom line of what we are considering
to offer is to redound the benefits of having stable
power and lower rates through Meralco for its customers
in its franchise area,” said
del Callar.
On
Monday Meralco and Napocor signed a memorandum of
agreement (MOA) that will give industries a generation
charge of P3.52 a kilowatt-hour (kWh) instead of the
regular rate of P4.69 per kWh.
“We have
finally signed the MOA that will bring the rates to all
the locators with a load factor better than 80 percent
whether below 1-megawatt in these 10 industrial estates
and three identified economic zones,” Meralco president
and chief operating officer Jesus P. Francisco said at
the signing sponsored by the Semiconductors and
Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi).
Francisco added Meralco will also make the offer
available to locators or industries that are outside the
identified industrial and economic zones within the
Meralco franchise area which have at least 1-megawatt in
demand at a load factor of 80 percent.
The
special rates will become effective after the Energy
Regulatory Commission has approved it.
“We [Napocor
and Meralco] have also been advised to do a joint filing
to the commission hoping for provisional approval in the
next few days, and to implement it starting with
September 26 billing cycle,” added Francisco.
He was
optimistic the special rate, once approved by the ERC,
will encourage industries to consume more. “And for us
in Meralco, that’s the way we will benefit from it—from
generating sales over and beyond what we have already in
these special 13 locations.”
Semiconductors group executive director Ernie Santiago
noted the share of power cost in running an electronics
company in the country ranges from 10 percent to 25
percent.
“So a
20-percent reduction on these costs will make us more
competitive and this is what we’re trying to address
here, and this will offset the impact of the
strengthening of the peso to semiconductor companies.”
Arthur
Young, Seipi president, also pointed out the Philippines
has one of the highest power costs today in the region
at $0.40 to $0.60 per kWh.
Young
said that
China
offers power at the very low rates of $0.08 to $0.09 per
kWh, while Thailand and Taiwan offer even lower rates at
$0.05 to $0.06 per kWh.
“Obviously, this 20-percent rate cut is a significant
improvement to our power costs, but certainly we are
looking for more,” said Young.
“We have
been working on this in the last three-and-a-half years;
certainly, today is a significant and pleasant
achievement for all the parties, but obviously we are
looking at other ways to make us more competitive, and
if lower rates will help us more competitive so
certainly we will look into that. If you look at China
and Vietnam, we are looking at rates to be comparable
with these countries,” added Young. |
