GENERERAL SANTOS CITY (PNA) – Power rates in this city and
parts of Sarangani and South Cotabato provinces will be reduced by around P3
per kilowatt-hour (kwh) once the 105-mega-watt (MW) coal-fired power plant of
the Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) starts commercial operations in March.
Ferdinand
Corales, SEC project manager, said Monday their projections showed that the
area’s power rates will drop to around P5 per kwh, with the streaming of its
power supplies to local distribution utility South Cotabato II Electric
Cooperative (Socoteco II).
In 2015,
the average power rate passed on by Socoteco II to local consumers reached
P8.35 per kwh, which included the costs of charges for transmission,
distribution and other components.
“The cost
of electricity here will be significantly reduced, although the final rate will
still be determined by the Energy Regulatory Commission,” he said in a
statement.
SEC started
last week the synchronization of its 105-MW power plant in Barangay Kamanga in
Maasim, Sarangani with Socoteco II and the Mindanao Grid.
The
synchronization, which will last until the end of the month, is part of the
plant’s load and reliability tests, in preparation for its targeted commercial
operations by March.
The
electric cooperative had signed a power sales agreement with SEC for the
provision of 70 MW of base load to its service area.
Sococteco II, which has a peak demand of
130 MW, serves this city and parts of South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces.
Crisanto "Bong" Sotelo, Socoteco II acting general manager, acknowledged that the area’s power
rates are currently considered relatively higher than those with other
localities.
He said this
was largely due to their dependence on contracted power producers operate using
diesel. Diesel is much more expensive compared to coal,” Sotelo said.
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