More Power to Peco: Let’s set aside row for sake of Iloilo electricity consumers

By Lenie Lectura – August 11, 2020
from Business Mirror

MORE Electric and Power Corp. (More Power) urged Panay Electric Co. (Peco) to cooperate and set aside their differences for the benefit of the Iloilo City power consumers.

More Power President Roel Castro said it has been two years since the company extended a “reconciliation hand” to Peco, but the former power distributor of Iloilo City has refused to cooperate.

“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 on Monday.

Castro said he understands that it is difficult for Peco management to lose its franchise after nearly 100 years in the business but, as a public utility, it should put the interest of consumers and Iloilo City above everything else.

“There are consumers involved here; if Peco looks at that perspective then they really should give way. We respect and understand that what they’re going through is painful, but at the end of the day, it’s the court and the regulator that will decide on the matter. Whatever and whoever is affected should respect the decision,” Castro said.

Congress did not renew the legislative franchise it issued to Peco on the basis of numerous complaints about its service, including pole fires and brownouts caused by its dilapidated facilities and overbilling.

The Energy Regulatory Commission also revoked its certificate of public convenience while the Iloilo City government did not issue a business permit to Peco.

Castro also disputed Peco’s claims that More Power has no technical expertise to run the distribution system of Iloilo City. He said MORE currently has 142 employees, 70 of which are former technical personnel of Peco. “There’s no point of saying that More has no technical knowledge. Management and resources may have changed, but we have the same technical people and engineers,” Castro said.

Castro also lambasted Peco’s claim that MORE’s outage incidents reached 412 hours from February 16, 2020 to July 16, 2020. He said the power interruptions reached only 182 hours. “Honesty is the best policy. I don’t know what their tactics are. MORE Power will not go to that extent of lying,” Castro said.