Sunday, October 2, 2011
POWER distribution utilities are asking government to defer the implementation of open access or retail competition come December.
Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) joined Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. and the Private Electric Power Operators Association Inc. in asking the Energy Regulatory Commission to delay implementation of retail competition by December 26, 2011.
Beneco General Manager Gerardo Versoza said as a member cooperative of Philreca, the local cooperative is asking the ERC to put in place first the system needed to accommodate the open access policy or retail competition by the end of the year.
Under retail competition, big power consumers can directly enter into supply contracts with power-generating companies.
They will continue to receive their supply via the transmission lines of distribution utilities and pay the appropriate tolls to the latter.
Versoza said the only consumer with one-megawatt (MW) consumption in the Beneco grid is SM City Baguio. “We will not be affected by the open access but we would like to have the system in place.”
In a joint letter to the ERC, the Manila Electric Co., the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. and the Private Electric Power Operators Association Inc. asked that the implementation of retail competition be set at a more viable date.
The groups argued rules to procure, design, deploy, test and commission the needed systems and infrastructure will extend well beyond.
The utilities said from the time the regulations, protocols and standards are set, it could take 12 to 15 months to develop the systems for accounting, billing and settlement of transactions needed for retail competition.
The Department of Energy and the ERC have yet to come out with the rules and standards for open access.
The initial proposal is to limit open access to consumers using not less than one MW. The minimum off-take, however, may easily be hurdled with the emergence of power trading companies, which have sought licenses from the ERC to act as consolidators.
The Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 provides that open access may only be implemented after the government has privatized at least 70 percent of its generation assets and 70 percent of its independent power producer administrator contracts.
The rationale for open access is that with market competition, the level of efficiency of power industry players will improve and the price of electricity will become competitive because electricity providers will strive for service excellence to keep consumers.
Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on October 03, 2011.
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/local-news/2011/10/02/power-coops-move-delay-open-access-182735
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Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/local-news/2011/10/02/power-coops-move-delay-open-access-182735
Movers Boca Raton
Movers Mountain View
Movers Lawndale
Movers National City
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