SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday called for an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the recent power interruptions in Occidental Mindoro even after power supply in the province was restored following a three-day outage which started on June 25.
Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on energy, said uninterrupted power supply is essential to keep the province’s economy going amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Kung magpapatuloy ito sa mga susunod na buwan, maaaring maapektuhan pati ang pagpasok sa paaralan ng mga mag-aaral. Hahayaan na lang ba natin na ganito na lang palagi ang situwasyon sa Occidental Mindoro? (If this will continue in the next months, schools will also be affected. Shall we allow this to happen in Occidental Mindoro?),” Gatchalian said.
The province has been experiencing power outages since June 25 after the Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. (OMCPC) stopped supplying electricity to Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc. (OMECO) following the expiry last June 25 of their power supply agreement.
Power supply resumed last June 27 after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) provisionally approved a power supply agreement (PSA) between OMECO and OMCPC to augment the power supply issue and end the lingering rotational outages.
OMECO is the electric cooperative servicing the franchise area of Occidental Mindoro with a total of 240,887 household connections.
Gov. Eduardo Gadiano said Occidental Mindoro needs around 27 megawatts (MW) but only 20 MW is given by OMPC, which uses bunker-fired diesel to its power plant in San Jose town.
Gatchalian said locals have been complaining about the power situation in their jurisdiction:
“It’s time we get to the bottom of the recurring power problem in the province.”
Gatchalian said he will file a resolution to have the Senate direct the appropriate committee to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation on the matter, highlighting the need for a supply reliability and power quality and to protect consumers from losses attributed to power outages.
“Kung hindi sapat ang mga umiiral na batas para tugunan ang problema sa suplay at kalidad ng kuryente sa Occidental Mindoro o kahit saan pa mang lugar o probinsiya, maaari tayong magbalangkas ng mga bagong batas o reporma sa mga kasalukuyang batas (If existing measures are not enough to address the problem on the supply and quality of electricity in Occidental Mindoro or in any other place, we have to craft new laws or reform our present laws),” Gatchalian said.
