Pagtaas ng rate ng Quezon Power Mauban, ipinasisiyasat sa DOE, ERC

PINAIIMBESTIGAHAN ng consumers groups sa Department of Energy (DOE) at Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ang kahina-hinalang pagtaas ng ‘rate’ ng Quezon Power Mauban kompara sa ibang planta ng ‘coal’ o karbon.

“This year 2020, Meralco likes to boast that its generation rate had come down from P4.9039 per kwh in January to P4.12 per kwh in August, a 16% reduction,” ayon kina Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares at Matuwid na Singil sa Kuryente convener David Celestra Tan.

Sinabi nina Colmenares at Tan, nakipag-ayos silang mabuti sa Independent Power Producer (IPP) sa pamamagitan ng pagdedeklara ng ‘force majeure’ sa panahon ng pandemya kaya ang kumuha o magbayad ng mga probisyon ng kontrata ay hindi inilapat, gayong nakapagtipid ang mga konsumer ng P15 bilyon.

“Though crack analysts from Bayan Muna and MSK however noticed that the fuel of these plants which is coal, had come down by 28% from $69.66 in January to $50.34 in August. Additionally, the WESM price dropped 193% from P8.49 per kwh in January to only P2.421 per kwh in August,” anang Bayan Muna chairman.

Ayon kay Colmenares, “So why did Meralco’s generation rate dropped only 16%? Our analysts noticed that in Meralco’s generation mix is sticking out like a sore thumb, the Quezon Power Mauban’s average rate for the period January to September 2020 of P6.73 per kwh. It is 51% higher than AC Energy at P4.55, 66% higher than San Miguel’s Sual at P4.051, an astonishing 82% higher than Thermal Power in Pagbilao at P3.6549 per kwh. QPL is 66% higher than the new 460mw San Buenaventura coal plant at P4.0533 per kwh.”

Aniya, maraming dapat ipaliwanag ang Quezon Power charges na ipinasa sa mga konsumer gaya ng rate na P6.5919 per kwh na ipinataw nila noong Enero.

“Inexplicably it went up higher instead of lower to P6.723 per kwh despite coal prices coming down by 28% during that period. This is anomalous and needs a Congress or a DOE and ERC investigation to protect the public interest,” giit ni Colmenares.

Kaugnay nito, sinabi ni Tan, ang QPPL’s P6.5919 per kwh noong Enero ay isang matinding kaibahan sa lahat ng ‘coal power suppliers’ ng Meralco.

“Masinloc was P5.4658 per kwh, Luzon Therma of Aboitiz in Pagbilao at P3.9001 per kwh, San Miguel’s Sual at P4.0689 and AC Energy at P4.2366 per kwh. That’s an average premium of 52.4%! And that is not to mention the P28 per kwh rate that Meralco paid QPPL last March and passed on to the consumers! In terms of absolute numbers, for the first 9 months of 2020 Meralco bought 1.601 billion kwh of electricity from QPPL at an average price of P6.73 per kwh,” paliwanag ni Tan.

“The average price of all other coal power suppliers to Meralco for that period is about P4.20 per kwh. In fact, the Pagbilao plant of Aboitiz sold only at an average P3.68 per kwh and San Miguel’s Sual at P4.05 per kwh for the period. This means Meralco paid Quezon Power P2.53 per kwh higher (6.73 – 4.20) than the average or at a total cost of P4.05 billion premium to its partner QPPL so far this year 2020. That P4.05 billion had been passed on to the Meralco consumers,” dagdag ng convener ng Singil sa Kuryente.