‘YOU DESERVE BETTER’: MORE Power vows superior services to Iloilo City

A DAY after the Senate Committee on Public Services approved its application for franchise to distribute electricity in Iloilo City, a major shareholder of MORE Power and Electric Co. (MORE Power) said it is time to free Ilonggos from their misery.

In a statement, businessman Enrique Razon, CEO of Monte Oro Resources & Energy, Inc. which is the major shareholder of MORE Power, said “four generations of Ilonggos have suffered under Panay Electric Co. (PECO).”

PECO is the current power distributor in the city.

“Neither are they heard by PECO, who has not addressed the many pending complaints – numbering 1,800 –against it.  Complaints include poor services, overcharging of power bills with some reaching more than 1,000 percent, accumulated billings due to erroneous meter readings, technical failures, poor customer service, high electricity rates, constant power interruptions and unexplained charges.  Clearly, it is time that the Ilonggos are relieved of their misery,” Razon said.

The business tycoon who first made waves in the ports business also hit PECO for questioning MORE Power’s capability.

“PECO claims that MORE does not have the qualifications to run an electric company. We certainly never want to have the qualifications of PECO.  We are exactly the opposite of PECO because we have a track record of success in start-ups and large-scale projects not only in the Philippines but globally.”

He also took a swipe at how PECO ran its business in Iloilo City:

PECO has become a rent-seeking business run by the family who are multiplying and draining the resources and earnings of PECO through dividends for themselves. They are a throwback to the hacienderos of lore. They behave like the franchise is a birth right. It is a privilege, not a right.”

SERVICES

Razon also enumerated the problems besetting PECO consumers, particularly the rates.

“PECO has one of the highest generation charges in the country, and is P2.50/kwh higher than in Manila, Cebu and Davao. Some NGOs even claim that Iloilo City’s electricity prices are the highest among 70 countries in the world,” he added.

While PECO may have low distribution rates, this is not good news, Razon said.

“…PECO has a low distribution charge. This is clear evidence that PECO has not made any meaningful investments in their facilities for decades. Their distribution lines, transformers and substations are also probably 95 years old. As seen throughout Iloilo, PECO has undersized and crowded feeders, leaning poles, disorganized service drops, unsafe clearances of lines and substations and transformers. These have resulted in frequent power outages and service interruptions.”

Razon also cited data to point out PECO’s purported “extremely poor reliability indices.”

“The SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) of PECO of 31.15 is actually 1,400 percent above the Philippine average of 2.18. The SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) of PECO is 1,612 or 3,000 percent above the Philippine average of 54. PECO systems loss in 2017 was 9.93 percent, the highest among private utilities in the Philippines.”

SAIFI is the average number of interruptions that a customer would experience, and is measured in units of interruptions per customer.

SAIDI is the average outage duration for each customer served and is measured in units of time, often minutes, or hours.

Razon said they would not take interest in the power distribution service in Iloilo City if PECO was doing well.

“If PECO had been doing a good job, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to apply for this franchise and transform it into a modern, efficient, low cost and state-of-the-art distribution network. PECO is no. 20 in the list of distribution utilities in the Philippines, an indication of poor performance. Given that its franchise area is a compact and contiguous urban area, it should have been in the top 5 or top 10,” he said.

SOURCE: The Daily Guardian

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