Officials in Eastern Visayas have renewed their call to address the high electricity cost in the region despite hosting one of the world’s largest geothermal plants.
Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone said the region is still getting power from coal power plants in Luzon with rates dictated by global prices of coal, fuel, and the peso-dollar exchange rate.
“Leyte is the host of the largest geothermal power in the country while Eastern Samar hosts a hydropower plant. Unfortunately, we don’t benefit from these renewable energy sources. The power cost is very high,” Evardone said in a meeting here of the regional task force to end the local communist armed conflict (TF-ELCAC) on Thursday.
The official cited the “One Grid Policy” as a setback for communities that host renewable energy plants. The policy, according to Evardone, allows power plants to sell their produce to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
The WESM is a centralized venue for buyers and sellers to trade electricity as a commodity where prices are determined based on actual demand and supply.
“We understand their situation since it’s a business, but they can make a certain percent of their electricity available to host communities,” he added.
Currently, most electric cooperatives in the region buy power from GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co., a coal power plant based in Mariveles, Bataan.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Eastern Visayas Regional Director Meylene Rosales said the high power cost has been hurting businesses and may discourage potential investors.
As of June 2023, the average electricity price per kilowatt hour in the region is PHP13.04, higher than the PHP11.91 rate of Manila Electric Company (Meralco).
“High electricity cost is a burden to its local populace, particularly among marginalized populations. It drives up the cost of doing business in the region, thus making its economy less competitive.”
Earlier, the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said the high power rate in the region was due to their failure to participate in the competitive selection process (CSP) of local electric cooperatives in the region.
EDC is the operator of the Leyte Geothermal Power Field in the northwestern part of Leyte province.
The EDC was disqualified to participate in the CSP in 2015 in which the Federation of Rural Electric Cooperatives in Eastern Visayas required a power generator to possess a “new power plant or a power plant expansion to supply its power requirements.”
The EDC’s power plants have already been existing for years.
The EDC is First Gen’s 100 percent renewable energy subsidiary and has more than 1,480 MW total installed capacity accounting for 20 percent of the country’s total installed renewable capacity.
Unified Leyte and Green Core Geothermal, Inc. are EDC’s power supply subsidiaries. (PNA)
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