An infrastructure-oriented thinktank has called on the Senate energy committee led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian to push for penalties against all power generating companies involved in the recent unplanned and forced outages which caused unexpected rotating brownouts within the Luzon power grid.
“The public demands an explanation how in the world was it possible that major generating plants suddenly become unavailable in such a short window of time. More importantly, the public should not be made to pay for these unplanned shutdowns. It should be these gencos that should pay the costs of higher power rates in the spot market,” said Terry L. Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former member fo the House energy committee.
Ridon said the following unplanned outages of the following power plants caused the April 13 red alert:
a. San Miguel Consolidated Power Corp. (SCPC) Unit 2, with 150-MW
b. Sual Unit I of Team Energy and San Miguel, with 647-MW
c. Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. (SLPGC) Unit 2 of DMCI, with 150-MW
d. Pagbilao Unit 3 of Team Energy and Aboitiz Power, with 420-MW
e. South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC) Unit 1 of AC Energy with 135-MW..
Explain shutdown, bear the costs
“We note that these generating plants are operated by country’s leading conglomerates, and thus, all the more should they be made to explain why their plants went out, and whether they are making a commitment to bear the costs of higher power prices from the spot market.”
Ridon said should the gencos refuse to make a voluntary commitment, government should initiate penalty proceedings, similar to its intervention in the water sector.
“The main concern of the public during these times is more on the higher costs due to the unplanned shutdowns. We can more ably bear rotating brownouts than higher power rates for reasons we have absolutely nothing to do with.”
