|
Prospective investors continue to shunn doing business in the Bicol
Region because of the high cost of electricity here despite the fact
that the region is considered a major supplier of power to the Luzon
Grid of the National Power Corporation (NPC). This was pointed out by
Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara, present chair of the Regional
Development Council, during a recent RDC meeting.
Bichara also noted that, although prospective investors are initially
attracted to the Bicol Region because of what it has to offer in
terms of rich natural resources and highly-skilled manpower, they
eventually decide to bring their business somewhere else because of
the prohibitive electric power rates obtaining in the region.
The present cost of electricity in Bicol, it was learned, goes at an
average of P4.22 per kilowatt hour. although local electric
cooperatives, which directly distribute power to the end consumers,
buy power from the NPC at only P1.60/kwh. It was this wide price gap
that was one of the issues discussed during the First Bicol Regional
POwer Summit held September, last year.
One of the solutions recommended during the Summit to reduce the cost
of electricity in Bicol is the "privatization and deregulation of the
local power industry". But, according to Bichara, for private
investors to come in, there is first a need to strengthen the ailing
electric cooperatives in the region. Bichara explained that
prospective investors want consolidated cooperatives because they do
not want to deal with small coops servicing only a small volume of
electric power consumers.
Another possible solution to the high power rates, as recommended by
the NPC itself, according to Presidential Assistant for Bicol Affairs
Tomasito Monzon, is for the private sector consumers to form their
own group and consolidate their power consumption requirements and
have direct access to the NPC. This way, it was explained, the NPC,
as a competitor in the power distribution, provided it complies with
the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 9136, can
sell direct to the consumers at a reduced price of only P3.00/kwh.
Meanwhile, some of the other resolutions passed during the summit,
which the RDC is now calling on the PABA to implement, include, one,
a resolution allowing the Budget Department to automatically deduct
from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of the local government
units their unpaid electric bills to the electric cooperatives; two,
a resolution calling for the publication of a list of top electrioc
consumer-debtors in the region, or those with accummulated debts of
P100,000 and above; and three, a resolution calling for the non-
interference of local officials in the operations of the local
electric cooperatives.
|
