SABOTAGE? MORE claims electricity meters broken, tampered

By Jennifer P. Rendon

MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) found out that some meters were destroyed two days after its controversial takeover of Panay Electric Co. (PECO) assets.

By destroyed, More Power president Roel Castro said that the meters were broken or tampered.

“Within 48 hours, more than 30 meters were broken, tampered and/or destroyed. These were meters that were found to be functioning before yesterday,” Castro said in a press conference on March 2, 2020.

Allegations of tampered meters surfaced days after MORE Power took over certain PECO assets based on a writ of possession (WOP) issued by the Iloilo Regional Trial Court Branch 23 on Feb 20, 2020.

In fact, he said their first caller was from telecommunications company Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT).

“On Saturday, (PLDT reported that) ‘yung 11 switchboard cabinets nila na pinutulan, tinanggal ang meter, tinapon or stolen,” Castro said.

He added they could not fathom what’s happening “but what’s important is we responded.”

Castro said More Power restored these meters on Saturday to allow PDLT switchboards to function once more.

Power supply to around 90 percent of affected PLDT posts were restored on the same day.

When asked if it was a case of sabotage, Castro said, “I’m afraid to make an accusation.”

“From my point of view, I don’t know if it’s a normal occurrence in Iloilo na binabasag ang mga meters but as a matter of fact, yes there were broken meters,” he added.

Castro said MORE Power personnel are still trying to establish if the incident would escalate.

“Is this something that we probably catch somebody who would be doing on action,” he said adding, “but we will continue to see how this would progress.”

He also appealed to those who might have deliberate intention to destroy these resources to refrain from doing it again.

“If it’s sabotage, I don’t know. I can’t categorically answer that for now,” he said.

Castro claimed, though, they would surely investigate on the matter and would file corresponding police blotter on the incident.

 

CPCN, POWER SUPPLY

Atty. Ferdinand Menguito, MORE Power’s counsel for regulatory matters, said MORE Power’s certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) is under process with the Energy Regulatory Commission.

A CPCN is a regulatory compliance certification for public service industries.

Menguito said MORE Power has a pending CPCN application with ERC since December 2018.

Last Feb 27, 2020, MORE Power furnished ERC with a copy of the WOP with an urgent motion for the issuance of the CPCN. The ERC heard the application last March 2, 2020.

“In the hearing, MORE presented evidence of its actual takeover of the distribution assets in Iloilo City and its technical expertise and capability to operate the said assets. With this, we are very confident that the ERC will soon issue the CPCN,” he added.

Menguito said MORE Power immediately operated the distribution assets upon takeover “on the basis of the fact that it is the only duly enfranchised distribution utility” in Iloilo City.

“Under the said franchise, MORE Power was mandated to ensure that there would be no interruption in the electricity distribution services to the people of Iloilo City during its takeover.”

MORE Power also stressed that it already has four emergency power supply contracts with various power suppliers – Aboitiz Renewables, Kepco SPC Power Corp., Panay Energy Development Co. Units 1, 2 and 3, and Panay Power Corp.

“Thus, MORE Power has adequate supply contracts for the requirements of its franchise area of Iloilo City as can be seen in the fact that no outages due to inadequate power supply occurred during its takeover,” Menguito said.

These contracts are all emergency supply contracts with a term of only one year in accordance with the franchise of MORE and Department of Energy (DOE) Circular No. 2018-002-0003. These contracts will still be subject to the scrutiny of the ERC to determine the final allowable generation rate.

During the one-year term of these emergency contracts, MORE Power shall undertake an open competitive selection process for the long term power supply requirements of Iloilo City.

“This will ensure the least cost electricity for the people of Iloilo City as mandated to MORE by its franchise. Aside from these, MORE is also a registered trading participant in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) where it has been sourcing a portion of the power requirements of its franchise area.  In fact, MORE has been taking advantage of the recent relatively low prices in the spot market as it begins to fulfill its promise to bring world-class electric services to the people of Iloilo City with lower electricity costs.”