A PROENVIRONMENT organization in Cebu is calling on the national government to investigate why power plants in the Visayas do not fully generate their capacities, contributing to the daily rolling brownouts in the region.

Vince Cinches of the Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Center, which is strongly opposing the construction of two 440-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power-plant complexes in the region for its negative effects on the environment and public health, is accusing power players of conniving to create a scenario that will force the public to accept dirty coal-fired plants.

“We have the Naga complex [Salcon Power Corp.] whose base-load capacity is 208.3 MW, but it seems that they are generating less for almost 50 percent, the same goes for Toledo [Cebu Energy devt Corp. (CEDC)],” Cinches  said in a statement. “Our office would like to call for an investigation over contract violation committed by power plants in Cebu for their failure to fully generate power according to contracts.”

Cinches said the public is burdened by paying for the unproduced power of these plants, while suffering from daily brownouts.

“As energy consumers, we demand full transparency on the real energy situation of the province, we are paying for 200 MW while they only generate 70 MW,” he said. “Obviously, the rolling blackouts that we are experiencing is not because we lack supply or because of maintenance issues, but because they want to profit by generating less.”

The top official of the Department of Energy in the Visayas earlier told the  BusinessMirror that the less efficient aging power plants in the region are producing less power and needing more maintenance checks and, along with a consistent increase in the demand for power, are contributing to the power shortage.

Kepco-SPC is building a 200-MW plant in Naga town south of Metro Cebu while CEDC is on the latter stages of its construction of a 246-MW plant in Toledo City.

CEDC president Jesus Alcordo last week said more base-load plants are needed as the new plants will only be enough to cover the deficit and expected power demand growth for the next two to three years. He said coal-fired plants are still the most efficient power plants for Cebu and the Visayas.