Cepalco petition raises big question: How much?

By Nitz Arancon

MINERGY’S plan to build a coal-fired power plant would beef up and ensure a stable supply supply of electricity in the city but it also raised a serious question on costs.

Efren Uy, president of the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry, welcomed the plan of the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco) to embed the coal power from Minergy’s planned plant into its distribution system.

But Uy also said the Oro Chamber would also oppose any attempt to significantly increase the rates of power in the city.

Cepalco and its sister company Minergy have filed a petition with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to ask a green light for the proposed project.

The plan is for Minergy to construct a 55mw coal-fired power plant in order to directly boost the power supply being distributed by Cepalco in the city and parts of Misamis Oriental. The proposal is for Cepalco to buy power from the Minergy coal-fired plant for 25 years.

Uy said the petition is good news for the local business sector that has long been apprehensive over the increasing demand for power in Mindanao.

He said consumers need not worry about how the project would affect the local power rates because the Oro Chamber would be the first to object in case there would be attempts to dramatically increase the rates.

But Councilor Alexander Dacer took a hard-line stance against the Cepalco-Minergy plan.

Dacer said Cepalco would surely pass on the costs to consumers.

“They will secure a loan from a bank in order to build that coal plant and then they will make the consumers pay. At the end of the day, the consumers will shoulder the burden,” said Dacer, chair of the city council’s urban poor committee.

He said the same is true with the “standby power plant” which Minergy built in Tablon. “The people are being made to pay for that useless Minergy plant,” he said.

If the new Cepalco-Minergy venture pushes through, Dacer said he fears the power rates in the city would shoot up and become unaffordable to many consumers.

Dacer’s views were shared by Nonoy Villalon, an entrepreneur, and Doming Llano, head of a family at a resettlement site for victims of the 2011 storm Sendong devastation. They said they feared the costs would outweigh the benefits of having more electric power generated for the city.

“Mga negosyante gud na sila… alang-alang dili  nila bawi-on ang ilang gasto,” said Villalon.

But Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) chairperson Reuben Vegafria, a former Oro Chamber president, said the proposed coal-fired plant could push the power rates down.

“Kon abunda ang supply sa kuryente mobarato kay mahulog man kini sa prinsipyo,  nga low of supply and demand. Kon mihit ang supply mahal apan kon abunda barato,” said Vegafria.

Meanwhile, Councilor Dacer also expressed fears that the proposed coal-fired plant would impact on the environment.

“Where are they going to build this power plant? For sure, it will not be good to the environment,” said Dacer. “Uling gyud ang sugnod ana. Unya asa man pa-ingon  nang ilang aso ug abo?”