Napocor losing 1-day customers

The number of companies availing of National Power Corp.’s (Napocor’s) one-day power sales (ODPS) program has been on a decline since last year.

Napocor documents obtained by The STAR showed that as of July this year, the number of ODPS customers had dropped to 44 from 58 as of end-2002.

According to Napocor officials, some electronics manufacturers have opted not to avail of the ODPS because of the "unstable supply of power" coming from Napocor.

"The unpredictable power spikes are affecting their operations so they decided not to get power from Napocor anymore," the officials said.

Customers from Mindanao, the officials added, have also decided not to avail of the ODPS program.

"Most of the power generated in Mindanao comes from hydropower and it may be wise for them to get bulk power from hydropower sources," the officials said. About 70 percent of power from Mindanao is sourced from hydroelectric power plants.

As of end-June 2003, the ODPS customers in Mindanao have been inactive. The three Mindanao-based customers who used to source their power requirements from ODPS were Picop Resources Inc., Philippine Sinter Corp. and Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co.

Among the inactive ODPS customers in Luzon, on the other hand, included Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Union Leaf, Magellan Cogen Inc. and Southern Energy.

In Visayas, the inactive ODPS customers are East Asia Utilities Corp., Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp., and Cebu Private Power Corp. As a result, energy sales from the ODPS for the first seven months of 2003 also decreased significantly to 689 gigawatthours (gwh) from 1,624 gwh in end-2002.

Income from ODPS also declined to P143 million in the seven-month period. As of end-2002, earnings from ODPS reached P902 million.

Under the ODPS, Napocor sells unutilized capacity to customers through an electronic on-line bidding system. Buyers must have a self-generating capacity of at least one megawatt to join the program.