By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) saved P44 million in power costs for the months of May to middle of July 2021 by utilizing its contracted reserve power from Central Negros Power Reliability (CENPRI) instead of relying on the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
CENECO is the exclusive distributor of electricity for Central Negros covering the cities of Silay, Talisay, Bacolod, Bago, Murcia, and Don Salvador Benedicto
In a statement, CENPRI said the Visayan region had been suffering from power shortages due to low power supply in Luzon and the continued repair going on in the 90 MW Amlan submarine cable that was damaged by public works repairs.
Electric Distributors in Negros Island, Panay, and Cebu normally would be forced to suffer rolling brownouts due to the manual load shedding or to buy power from the WESM where during these shortages hourly prices have ranged from P17 to P32.97 per kilowatt-hour, especially during the afternoon and evening hours until 10 PM.
The savings of CENECO and its member consumers averaged P16 million a month by availing of CENPRI’s reserve power.
In addition, the electric coop also would have lost P50 million a month in lost revenues due to the forced brownouts without the reserve power of CENPRI.
The more modern economy of Bacolod City with Shopping Malls, Call Centers, Schools, and medical facilities, and a population relying on the internet for working and studying at home, would have their consumers forced to use their own generators and incur expenses on gasoline and diesel. These will be very expensive for the malls and call centers, schools, and hotels.
Energy industry officials estimate that it will take until November when the downed large coal plants in Luzon and the 90 MW Amlan submarine are expected to come back to service and improve the supply. Those will also reduce the WESM prices in both Luzon and Visayas.
The 25.9 MW net reserve power plant of CENPRI in Brgy Calumangan, Bago City is connected to CENECO’s transmission and distribution system.
A system innovation of CENECO, it is designed to provide CENECO with insurance for assured supply of peaking power from 5 to 10 PM and protection from high WESM costs to the CENECO area when the transmission lines bringing power from Cebu and Panay Island suffer operational problems and bad weather.
When the Visayan islands suffered brownouts when Leyte was hit by a major earthquake and some geothermal plants and power lines were damaged, the Visayan islands suffered widespread brownouts for weeks in Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros, and Panay islands.
Many Call Centers and large businesses operating in Bacolod and Talisay were afraid of stopping operations. It was CENECO’s 18.9 MW reserve power contract with CENPRI that saved Bacolod from rolling brownouts.
Additionally, it saved CENECO P1 to P21 per kwh from the WESM prices since CENPRI is guaranteeing CENECO a price of approximately P11 per kwh.
CENPRI’s 25.9 MW net power plant is ready to run 24/7 with 18.9 MW reserved for CENECO anytime the Central Negros coop needed additional power to protect its customers from short supply and high WESM prices.
