‘MORE Power system loss below ERC cap’
By Lenie Lectura – August 27, 2020
from Business Mirror
More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) said Wednesday it posted a system loss rate of 6 percent, which is still within the mandated cap of 6.5 percent set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Contrary to the claims of Koalisyon Bantay Kuryente (KBK) President Jose Allen Aquino, who earlier said that Iloilo residents’ electricity bills rose when MORE Power took over because the firm recorded system losses of 12 percent, MORE Power Spokesperson Jonathan Cabrera said “this was fabricated as it was based on a wrong formula and a wrong interpretation of the ERC’s own official rules.”
System losses refer to the cost of electricity that was either lost in transmission through power lines or pilfered. These losses are passed on to consumers up to a certain percentage or up to the so-called system loss cap, which refers to the limit beyond which a utility is no longer allowed to recover from its customers the cost of electricity.
Cabrera said Aquino “used the number in the systems loss charge in MORE Power’s monthly bill and divided it against the generation charge.
“In reality, the systems loss charge is proportional to both the generation and transmission charge, and not just on generation charge alone as shown in Aquino’s formula.”
Using the same formula, Cabrera said PECO’s systems loss in February should have reached 8.13 percent. He said Aquino, however, presented only 7.17 percent.
Cabrera said MORE Power’s 6-percent systems loss charge is expected to go down to 5.5 percent in 2021 and to 4.75 percent in 2022.
MORE POWER president Roel Z. Castro renewed his public appeal to PECO to reconcile with MORE Power.
“The relationship of MORE Power and PECO should not be viewed as a corporate war. More Power has nothing to do with PECO. We are here in Iloilo City not because we are after PECO but we are after the sorry state of facilities here, plagued with complaints of poor service, customer case and high electricity rates,” Castro said.
Congress did not renew PECO’s legislative franchise due to numerous customer complaints. The ERC also revoked its certificate of public convenience while the Iloilo City government did not issue a business permit to PECO.
