Napocor, co-ops ink MOA on power discount

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) signed yesterday a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the country’s largest electric cooperatives for the implementation of the Special Pricing to Enhance Electricity Demand (SPEED).

SPEED is a program adopted recently by the Napocor and the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to give a 92-centavo discount to large industrial and commercial electricity users nationwide.

The SPEED program, which is a joint initiative by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), was originally intended for 656 large industrial and commercial customers in the Meralco franchise area covering Metro Manila and nearby provinces such as Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite and Batangas.

But the pricing incentive program’s coverage is now being expanded to benefit clients of different distribution utilities and electric cooperatives outside the metropolis.

Among those electric distribution companies that have signed the MOA with Napocor to implement SPEED are: the Angeles Electric Corp.; Cabanatuan Electric Corp.; Cagayan Electric Power & Light Co. (Cepalco); Dagupan Electric Corp.; Iligan Light & Power, Inc.; La Union Electric; Tarlac Electric Inc.; San Fernando Electric Light & Power Co. (SFELAPCO) and Visayan Electric Co. (Veco).

Electric cooperatives led by the Cebu Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Cebeco), which serves large industries in the highly urbanized Cebu City, also signed a MOA with Napocor for the SPEED program.

Energy Secretary Vincent Perez commended the initiative of the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives to participate in the program. "With this MOA, we anticipate that different industries such as feed mills, beverage and bottling plants, shopping malls, fertilizer manufacturing plants, food processing plants and software manufacturing plants, among others, will start to enjoy reduced power cost. Our estimates show that some 80 large industrial and commercial users nationwide will benefit from the SPEED program," he said. – Donnabelle Gatdula