Leyte PB sets another public hearing

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – Another public consultation on the proposed Leyte-Mindanao Interconnection Project (LMIP) was set again on July, according to the Leyte Provincial Board Member Anlie Apostol (2nd district, Leyte), energy committee chair.

The July hearing will be attended by representatives of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) who will be asked to provide in-depth information on the interconnection project, particularly on how this would affect the power rates now imposed among local consumers.

Apostol said there is still a need for the people to know how the project will go about, the advantages the interconnection can give to them and where the power increase would go, should it be imposed.

The NGCP has earlier petitioned the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to approve its conduct of a feasibility study to determine whether it will be in the best interest of the grid and consumers to construct the LMIP, which may entail additional costs for consumers.

Apostol however protested: “An increase in the rate could not be avoided, but the consumers should know where the increase would go. Dapat malaman natin kung saan napupunta ang binabayaran natin.”

The PB objected to the plan that the cost of NGCP’s feasibility study on the proposed project would be passed on to the consumers.

“Mahirap naman yun to the consumers. Why should we be the one to shoulder the cost? Sila ang kapitalista and they say they are a stable company, bakit tayo pa ang gagastos sa feasibility just for them to know kung kikita ba o hindi ang project nila? They are the capitalists, sila na rin gumastos sa study nila,” Apostol said.

The National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms (NASECORE) Inc. president Pete Ilagan, who attended the previous hearing said his group has opposed to the project and petitioned ERD to “dismiss outright the instant application” of the NGCP because consumers should not be made to shoulder the cost of the feasibility study.

The mayors who attended also expressed opposition to the project saying they already saw additional costs being passed on to the consumers, even years from now.

NGCP national spokesperson, lawyer Cynthia Alabanza, for her part, insisted that the project would be advantageous to the Leyte and the Visayas Grids in terms of energy sharing.

The Department of Energy believed that the interconnection project could secure the country’s power supply as a long-term solution to alleviate the power shortages in the country.

The proposed project involves a 250-kilovolt density cable bipolar link with a total transfer capacity of 500 megawatts (MW), a 455-kilometer long overhead line and a 23-km submarine cable.

It would start at the Ormoc Converter Station in Leyte and would end at the Kirahon Converter station in North Central Mindanao via Southern Leyte and North Eastern Mindanao. – THE FREEMAN