MKP duda sa pangakong brownout-free elections ng DOE

IPINAHAYAG ng Murang Kuryente Partylist (MKP) ang kanilang pagdududa sa kakayahan ng Department of Energy (DOE) na maseguro na hindi mawawala ang suplay ng koryente sa panahon ng senatorial at local elections sa 13 Mayo.

Sa isang pulong balitaan kamakailan, ipinadama ng tatlong nominee ng MKP ang kanilang pagkadesmaya sa lumilitaw na kahinaan ng DOE na mapagtibay ang generation companies (GenCos) at distribution utilities (DUs) na tuparin ang kanilang mandato na makapagpamahagi ng abot-kaya at maaasahang enerhiya sa mga konsumer.

“In the whole of 2017, there were only three yellow alerts for the grid. 2018 had seven yellow alerts for the whole year. Yet in 2019, an election year, there were 10 yellow alerts and even red alerts and April has not even ended yet,” sabi ni Gerry Arances, MKP second nominee.

“DOE said there will be no power interruptions during the summer months, yet some areas already experienced them just a few weeks after the promise was made. So what is different about the DOE now that I can trust their other promises?”

Sa nakalipas na linggo, kulang pa rin ang Luzon grid ng 1,367 megawatts (MW) habang dumaraan ang limang coal power plant sa forced outage, partikular na ang SMC Consolidated Power Corporation Limay Unit 2 (150 MW), Team Energy Corporation Sual Unit 1 (647 MW), Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corporation Unit 2 at Pagbilao Energy Corporation Unit 3 (420 MW).

Ayon kay MKP first nominee Anton Paredes, nagdurusa na ang mga kostumer at maging ang ekonomiya.

“A one-hour blackout in Metro Manila already costs the economy roughly ± 2.7 billion. And this is just from the stoppage of economic activity that requires electricity and does not include second-order effects. Power companies have legal and contractual obligations to provide power at reasonable cost. They are not giving either of them. They don’t respect our laws, perhaps because government agencies are not enforcing these laws,” wika ni Paredes.

Ipinabatid naman ni MKP third nominee Glenn Ymata na sadyang nalulugi ang mga konsumer lalo nga’t hindi sila nakabayad sa tamang petsa.

“The sad thing is, if consumers don’t pay Meralco on time, they lose their connection and are further penalized for not having money by paying reconnection charges. For power companies, not only can they get away from fulfilling their part of the contract with consumers, they seem to earn even more money when they do so,” ani Ymata.

Idinagdag ng nominee ang kanyang hinala hinggil sa nakaiskedyul na shutdown at pagbugso ng puwersahang kakulangan ng suplay ng koryente na dinaranas ngayong krisis ng bansa.

“I don’t know of any business that would schedule maintenance during peak season. Maintenance is done before or after peak season, but the logic of our power industry is to do maintenance during peak season because it gets them more profits. This twisted incentive happens because no one stops them or punishes them from exploiting the consumer. This must change,” sabi ni Ymata.