IMEE: IS POWER TRANSMISSION IN MIF'S MANDATE TOO?

 IMEE: IS POWER TRANSMISSION IN MIF'S MANDATE TOO?

Senator Imee Marcos remains unconvinced that investing part of the Maharlika Fund in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) was the right way to solve power transmission problems nationwide.

"Why should the MIC (Maharlika Investment Corporation) spend money to improve the performance of the NGCP when it is regulated by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)? Why should we use public funds when regulatory measures are available?" the senator asked, citing provisions in Republic Act 9136 - the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.

The NGCP itself said funding was not a problem, but Marcos questioned how the NGCP has been spending its net income.

"The problem of NGCP is not lack of cash but lack of performance. The NGCP's comprehensive income totaled PhP 307 billion in the past 14 years, of which PhP 239 billion or more than 77% has been distributed to shareholders, even as the NGCP claimed PhP 309 billion in transmission upgrades," the senator noted.

Calling for a review of the NGCP's franchise in Senate Resolution 832, Marcos said the "alarming lack of improvement" in the NGCP's power transmission capacity has caused "automatic load-dropping incidents and grid-level outages, inadequate procurement of ancillary services to prevent outages, and delays in the completion of grid projects lasting as long as seven years."

"We could have avoided the recent power outage in Panay if the Cebu-Negros-Panay Backbone Project and the Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection Project were finished on schedule. Now, billions have been spent with no ROI (return on investment) in sight," the senator said.

Marcos said that instead of investing in the NGCP, the government should exclude unfinished projects in the computation of the private corporation's rates.

"This will incentivize the NGCP to finish projects before recouping costs," she explained.

"There should be penalties for delays," she added, citing the recent decision of the ERC to exclude ongoing projects in resetting rates of the NGCP.

Right-of-way problems and the long process of obtaining permits from local governments also contributed to the delay in the NGCP's interconnection projects.

Marcos recalled former President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order No. 30, which created the Energy Investment Coordinating Council (EICC) and recognized energy projects as Projects of National Significance.

"Given the problem of permitting faced by NGCP projects, the inclusion of the respective leagues of LGUs in the EICC can help in simplifying the process," he senator recommended.

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