Viewpoint: Bantayan Electric Co-op defends new power supply, says deal ‘aboveboard’
By Alena Mae S. Flores – July 14, 2020 at 07:30 pm
from manilastandard.net
Bantayan Island Electric Cooperative said Tuesday the competitive selection process held on the power supply requirement of Bantayan Island in Cebu last year was above board and observed due process.
Banelco said in a statement it carried out the bid on the power supply of Bantayan Island in complete compliance with the CSP and with the Department of Energy Circular 2018-02-0003.
“We affirm our position that due process was observed in the selection and awarding of the winning bid—a position that is supported by the TPBAC (third party bids and awards committee) to which the winning bidders submitted and withstood scrutiny,” the electric cooperative said.
Banelco said that despite numerous attempts by losing bidder Bantayan Island Power Corp. to overturn the TPBAC’s decision to their favor, the winning bidder was clearly and carefully selected at that time.
It said all proceedings of the CSP were witnessed by representatives from the DOE, National Electric Administration and National Power Corp.. They were also published in the DOE website for transparency. Banelco said it complied with all the policies and guidelines imposed by the TPBAC, contrary to claims of BIPCOR.
The electric cooperative said it would remain under contract with BIPCOR until 2021 and was hoping that the latter would give Banelco and the people of Bantayan Island the service that they were duty-bound to fulfill.
Banelco said it was working hard to overcome the energy deficit of Bantayan Island “despite the bureaucratic issues we have to address.”
“The energy needs and the quality of life of all of Bantayan Island’s residents will always be Banelco’s utmost priority. We have a daily rotational brownout due to shortage of supply because of constant engine failure of BIPCOR. This was happening even before the bidding,” it said.
Banelco said it highlighted in the bid documents before its publication the need for power quality and reliability for the main reason that the electric cooperative have only power provider for the entire island of Bantayan.
“Currently, the generating engines of BIPCOR are of different brands. The newly installed gensets are the ones that are always under maintenance. I also want to stress out that the brownouts that we are experiencing which worsened last March, in time of quarantine until now has created an outrage from our member consumer owners was mainly because of the failure of BIPCOR to provide reliable power supply to Bantayan Island,” Banelco general manager Lee Rivera said.
Rivera said the people on Bantayan Island were dealing with a daily rotational brownout because of the constant engine failure of BIPCOR.
“Sadly, this has been happening even before the bidding; we first noted this deficit in 2018 but it has not been addressed by BIPCOR. Furthermore, as Banelco highlighted in our bid documents before its publication, we need a single, dedicated provider for the entire island to ensure power quality and reliability. Currently, these needs have not been met by BIPCOR,” Rivera said.
Banelco held the CSP in August last year and the notice of award was given to another bidder in October.
