Senator Win Gatchalian has joined forces with a coalition of concerned local power consumers, emerging as an advocate for their plea to have the National Electrification Administration assume control of the Palawan Electric Cooperative, with the shared goal of addressing the challenges facing the province.
In a press release made public yesterday, Gatchalian called on the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to assume control of the management of Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) due to persistent power outages and the substantial electricity costs, which he said are imposing difficulties on its members, owners, and consumers, and the economy.
“PALECO cannot fulfill its mandate of supplying sufficient and affordable electricity to Palawan, then maybe the responsibility of providing power in the province is better off in the hands of NEA,” said Gatchalian, backing calls made by consumer group Palawan Electric Member-Consumer-Owners (PEMCO).
In Gatchalian’s statement, it was stated that NEA appointed Atty. Ivan Zamora, who serves as the department manager at the company’s Management and Consultancy Services Office (MCSO), as the project supervisor tasked with supervising the operations of PALECO last week.
The senator said that most recent records from NEA indicate that PALECO’s performance regarding the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) falls short of the established reliability standards, which prescribe a maximum of 20 interruptions per year.
In 2022, he stated that there were 27.34 unplanned interruptions that were under the control of distribution utilities, and in 2023, this decreased slightly to 21.878.
These records underscore that PALECO’s SAIFI performance exceeds the acceptable threshold, indicating a lack of compliance with the reliability benchmarks set for the electric cooperative.
Furthermore, Gatchalian pointed out that PALECO also fails to meet the standards outlined in the Philippine Distribution Code when it comes to power quality. This means that PALECO does not adhere to the specified criteria for power quality set forth in the code.
“Malaking dagok sa buhay ng ating mga kababayan sa Palawan ang palagiang brownout. Dapat maglatag na ng pangmatagalang solusyon ang NEA at Department of Energy (DOE) sa lalong madaling panahon para sa kapakanan ng mga konsyumer,” Gatchalian said.
He also emphasized that electric cooperative presently holds an AA classification and falls under the category of Yellow EC. NEA assigns an AAA rating as the highest score to electric cooperatives (ECs) indicating full compliance with all parameters, while D represents the lowest rating.
The classification of Yellow EC, Gatchalian explained, denotes that PALECO is not meeting four or more of the three critical performance standards and parameters outlined in NEA’s guidelines.
PEMCO’s call for NEA to take over PALECO was made last week by one of its convenors, Antonio Cabrestante, who expressed their intention to raise the province’s power problem with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Senator Raffy Tulfo, the Chairperson of the Senate’s Committee on Energy.
“Let us admit, hopeless ang PALECO kung titingnan natin ang track record nila since 2014 na nakikipaglaban kami dyan. The takeover would mean NEA supervises everything; the same people will manage Paleco during the transition period,” he said.
“Dapat full control ang operation, and ang manager most likely maglalagay sila ng sarili nila, then ang director baka dapat mga puro taga NEA. Dapat NEA-controlled lahat yan—ang gawin sana nila—kasi mag-e-expire na ang franchise nila in 2029, we have five years, dapat NEA supervised sa kung ano man ang gagawin dyan,” he suggested.
NEA taking control of PALECO wouldn’t be an unprecedented event; in fact, a similar intervention occurred back in December 2018 when it stepped in to manage operations in response to the persistent power outages experienced during that period.
This happened following the residents’ serious electricity issue being brought to the attention of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who discussed it during his visit to Puerto Princesa City.
