Marelco: NPC plans power cuts to conserve costly fuel
BY LENIE LECTURA – OCTOBER 26, 2022
from Business Mirror
The Marinduque Electric Cooperative Inc. (Marelco) has been informed by the National Power Corp. (NPC) of possible “load shedding,” as a result of insufficient budget.
Marelco said Tuesday that it received an advisory from NPC that beginning October 19, 2022, there would be possible “load shedding” activities done to reduce fuel consumption and stretch available fuel inventory of the Torrijos diesel plant and Power Barge (PB) 120.
Load shedding is the shutdown of power, generally to prevent the failure of the entire system when the demand strains the capacity of the system.
NPC, for its part, was informed by Petron Corp. that it will temporarily limit the fuel and lubes delivery for the said plant and power barge. This is due to NPC’s failure to pay Petron.
NPC said in a Senate hearing its approved fuel budget of P6.385 billion for the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) missionary areas was based on a price assumption of P37.99 per liter for diesel. Beginning last June, however, diesel prices jumped to as high as P79.66 per liter driven by the Russia-Ukraine war.
The fuel price hike was one of the reasons why SPUG generation companies have racked up substantial outstanding obligations to fuel suppliers. Given the volatility of prices and the slow release of funds from the NPC, many fuel suppliers are now reportedly reluctant to deliver more fuel on credit.
The state firm proposed a budget of P44.749 billion for 2023, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) slashed this to P32.212 billion. NPC said the 30-percent budget cut for next year would result in power outage in the SPUG areas.
Engr. Gaudencio M. Sol Jr., Marelco general manager, is hoping the national government will listen to calls to supplement the budget of NPC to address the spike in fuel prices.
“NPC informed us that no fuel deliveries would be made to our two plants and the Board of Directors and Management try to schedule a meeting with NPC to management on how to resolve this matter,” Sol said.
Moreover, the Torrijos plant ran out of fuel stock last Friday, thus leaving a shortage of approximately 500 kilowatts to 1 megawatt.
No power curtailment was implemented yet by NPC as of press time. “We hope the national government supports NPC’s call for an additional budget due to the fuel price spike,” he said.
Marelco distributes power to the municipalities of Boac, Buenavista, Gasan, Mogpog, Sta. Cruz and Torrijos.
