INEC suspends buying power from spot market
The Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative has temporarily stopped buying its power supply from the wholesale electricity spot market while power rates traded by WESM are high. INEC suspended its participation from WESM effective July in response to public clamor for the cooperative to study other means to lower the cost of electricity that it distributes to its more than 115,000 consumers. A cross section of the community composed of businessmen, lawyers, political leaders and ordinary power consumers had been holding a series of public consultation with INEC officials since last month because of the unabated power surge since May. For his part, former Laoag Mayor Roger Fariñas questioned why power rates in Ilocos Norte are higher than the rates prevailing in the neighboring province of Ilocos Sur when the former is supposedly enjoying the benefits of lower power cost supplied by the wind power plant. Fariñas said Ilocos Norte’s power rates in the months of May, June and July were either similar or higher than the prevailing rates in Ilocos Sur—P 11.40 per kWh for Ilocos Norte while P8.87 per kWh for Ilocos Sur (May); P8.65 for Ilocos Norte while P8.84 for Ilocos Sur (June) and P9.55 for Ilocos Norte while P8.92 for Ilocos Sur (July). “Ilocos Norte has the wind power plant and hydro power plant while Ilocos Sur merely relies from NPC for its power supply, yet we still have higher rates,” he said. Lorenzo Rey Ruiz, INEC board of directors’ president, said the cooperative has adopted twin measures to arrest the rising cost of power in the province. “We have stopped buying power from the spot market and we will start negotiating with Northwind so that we could amend certain provisions that are disadvantageous to INEC,” he said. Ruiz said INEC stopped buying power from WESM despite the law mandating distribution utilities to buy at least 10 percent of their power requirement from the spot market. “We have heeded the clamor of our consumers. But they have to understand that we do not have any control over the rising cost of power,” he said. Ruiz said INEC has started increasing its energy contract with the National Power Corporation to fill the shortage caused by the low level of power supply produced by other power sources. INEC officials are also poised to sit down with another power provider, the Northwind Power Development Corporation (Northwind), for a possible revision of its energy sales agreement. The coop said Northwind had been falling short of its power delivery to INEC this year forcing INEC to buy its shortage from the spot market. INEC sources its power supply from the NPC, the spot market, the hydroelectric power plant in Pagudpud town and from the Northwind Power Development Corporation. Under the agreement, all power produced from the wind turbines are sold to INEC exclusively for a 20-year period. Northwind, however, has failed to meet the power requirement that it committed to deliver to INEC. In July for example, Northwind only delivered 900 kWh to INEC out of the 3 mwh that the wind farm was supposed to sell. Cristina Arzadon
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