|
SAYING
it shared the goal of bringing down rates at accredited
zones of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza),
the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is set to withdraw its
petition to prohibit Peza from implementing the
guidelines on the registration of power-generation
facilities and other entities inside economic zones.
Jesus
Francisco, president and chief operating officer of the
country’s largest power distributor, said the Meralco
board has given the green light
to withdraw the petition against Peza, after Francisco
explained that Peza has already addressed Meralco’s
concern as a franchised distribution utility.
The
Meralco official said they will soon file a motion to
withdraw their complaint by early next week.
“We
share common objectives of helping ecozone locators
become more competitive by bringing down the power
rates,” Francisco said.
The
implementation of the guidelines would allow Peza to cut
the power rates in the ecozones by as much as P1 per
kilowatt-hour.
The
Regional Trial Court in Pasig earlier issued a temporary
restraining order in favor of Meralco and Private
Electric Power Operators Association Inc. that stops
Peza from implementing the guidelines within the
franchise area of Meralco.
The
petition questioned Peza’s authority over the power
distribution and power-rate setting within the economic
zones. Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of
2001, it is the ERC that has the sole authority to
regulate power rates.
Energy
Secretary Angelo Reyes welcomed the decision of Meralco
and Pepoa, saying that this will eventually lead to
lower power rates in the economic zones that will
benefit close to 300 locators in 13 ecozones in the
country.
Reyes
said this will also help bring the Philippine
electricity rate on a par with the neighboring
countries, is a major step toward achieving competitive
rates, and will send a positive signal to investors.
Peza
earlier finalized the guidelines for the implementation
of the P1-power-rate reduction early this year, and has
asked distribution utilities in the economic zones to
register with them to be able to avail themselves of the
rate cut.
Meralco
and the National Power Corp. (Napocor) last year entered
into an agreement to reduce the power rate by P1 per
kilowatt-hour at 10 industrial estates and three special
economic zones.
Based on
the agreement, Napocor will lower its generation rate to
P3.52/kWh from the existing P4.69/kWh.
Francisco quickly said if the volume of power sourced by
the companies goes up to a certain level, the generation
rate can further go down to P3.49/kWh to P3.46/kWh,
which could result in substantial savings of P1.17/kWh
to the industrial users. |
