To allow the immediate utilization of 18 MWs of TMI's (Therma Marine, Inc.) remaining uncontracted generation capacity and add to the available generation supply in Mindanao, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) provisionally approved on April 2, 2012 ZAMCELCO's (Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative, Inc.) Energy Supply Agreement (ESA) executed with TMI, the owner of the two 100 MW power barges in Mindanao.
The execution of the ESAs between utilities like ZAMCELCO and TMI and the ERC's approval of these ESAs are needed to make available for dispatch the generation capacity of the two (2) power barges to augment energy supply and help meet the electricity demand in Mindanao. The ERC's action on ZAMCELCO's application brings to 16 the number of ESAs between the Mindanao utilities and TMI provisionally approved by the ERC. These contracts cover 152 MWs (inclusive of additional capacity contracted by some of the utilities) of the combined capacity of the power barges. Only 3 ESAs remain for ERC's action, those of MOELCI I or Misamis Occidental I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (2 MWs), BUSECO or Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative, Inc. (5 MWs), and COTELCO or Cotabato Electric Cooperative, Inc. (8 MWs). MOELCI I's application for approval of its ESA with TMI was filed only on March 23, 2012 and the earliest that the ERC can act on the application is on April 10, 2012 after the expiration of the mandatory 30-day period granted by the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 9136 for interested parties to submit their comments or opposition to the application. BUSECO's and COTELCO's applications were filed only on April 2, 2012, and thus the ERC can act on these applications at the earliest in May 2012.
As provisionally approved, the applicable rates for the TMI's supply to ZAMCELCO are broken down into a Capacity Fee of PhP400/kW/month; Fixed Operating & Maintenance Fee of PhP207/kW/month; and Energy Fee of PhPO.4864/kWh, plus a Fuel and Lube Oil Rate, which is pass-through, but subject to a fuel consumption rate of 0.2210 liter/kWh for Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and 0.00313 liter/kWh for Lube Oil or actual, whichever is lower.
"The ERC's timely action on the applications of the Mindanao utilities to augment their power requirements with power coming from the TMI power barges facilitated the utilization of the generation capacity of these barges for the Mindanao consumers. Were it not for the mandatory 30-day period as imposed by the IRR and confirmed by no less than the Supreme Court in the issuance of provisional reliefs, the ERC would have acted already on all the applications," ERC Executive Director Francis Saturnino C. Juan said.
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