Napocor hails waiver of rental equipment fee

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) has lauded the move of a private supplier of heavy equipment for waiving a P1.7-million rental fee for two one-megawatt generator sets earlier deployed by the state-owned power firm to Tiwi, Albay.

In a courtesy call to Napocor president Cyril C. Del Callar, Monark Equipment Corp. president Ana Banson-Pastelero said they are willing to let the power firm use their diesel generators rent-free for two months.

Del Callar said Monark’s gesture "proves that the spirit of bayanihan, of being there for your fellow Filipinos during tragic times, is very much alive."

Last month, Napocor conducted a negotiated procurement for the lease of a two-megawatt "black-start" generator to speed up the repair of the Tiwi geothermal power plant, which was damaged by super-typhoons Milenyo and Reming.

These typhoons battered Southern Luzon, claiming several lives and causing significant damage to property and infrastructure, including power transmission and distribution facilities.

Based on Monark’s financial bid, the rental for the generator sets amounts to P850,000 per month.

Since Monark has opted to waive the rental fee for two months, Napocor stands to save P1.7 million, and will only have to pay for the rental of the accompanying 2.5-MVA (mega-volt ampere) power transformer, operators’ charges, and mobilization/demobilization charges, or the cost of transporting the gensets from Monark’s main rental yard in San Pedro, Laguna to Tiwi, Albay and back.

Monark Equipment is the sole authorized dealer of Caterpillar construction equipment, industrial and marine engines, and generation sets in the Philippines. Established in 1987, the company reported sales of P2.5 billion in 2005, and is among the country’s top 500 corporations.

Del Callar said the generation sets provided by Monark will help in fast-tracking the power restoration efforts being undertaken jointly by Napocor, the National Transmission Corp., National Electrification Administration, and other concerned agencies.