By Francis Allan L. Angelo
Power consumers in Iloilo City are outraged by the brownouts taking place, just a week after MORE Electric and Power Co (MORE) of ports and gambling magnate Enrique Razon forcibly took over operations of five of Panay Electric Company’s (PECO) substations.
In an advisory released on MORE’s Facebook page, the company noted that it took more than two hours to finish the restoration of unscheduled power interruptions in barangays Santo Niño, Santo Niño Norte, Calaparan in Arevalo district, and Calumpang in Molo district.
MORE attributes the interruption to a “momentary line fault,” although experts say that the resumption of power should have been much earlier.
Netizens were quick to take to social media to express their grievances with the slow service. “Ano ba MORE? Bago pa lang kamo, duha na ka oras brownout di,” Rolando Dabao said.
“Expect brownouts pa MORE,” Victor Bernardo commented.
Some consumers complained that MORE was not responsive to queries on the company’s action steps to rectify the situation, with Pol Ibarreta saying “wala na si MORE ga reply sa Facebook.”
i-Konsumidor, a group of power consumers in Iloilo City, feels that the power struggle between MORE and PECO is putting consumers at a disadvantage.
“We must take note that MORE Power’s franchise in Republic Act 11212 provides that PECO must first settle its obligations to the consumers before wrapping up its operations,” the group said.
“We cannot rely on MORE because it is not bound to settle such obligations to us when it eventually takes over the distribution services.”
The group also questioned the anomalous speed at which MORE was granted a Provisional Authority by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), emphasizing their concern that it could become the basis for MORE to bill consumers.
“MORE is running the facilities, but PECO is the one who has contracts with power generators. These contracts cannot be assigned to MORE,” the group said.
“If MORE will start billing us after two months, what will be the basis of their rates? We don’t know because there was no application nor did we attend or even learn of any public hearing on their application for provisional authority to enter into a Power Supply Agreement,” it added.
Before MORE acquired its franchise through Republic Act 11212, PECO was the sole power provider In Iloilo City for 95 years, tracing back to the post-World War II rehabilitation efforts.
On the other hand, MORE only entered the energy industry just two years ago, and at the time it was registered as a small-scale mining company by the name of MORE Mineral Corporation.
PECO is not alone in its proclamation that MORE does not have the technical capability to operate the power distribution facilities.
Section 17 of RA 11212, MORE’s franchise, states that PECO “shall in the interim be authorized to operate the existing distribution system.”
Judge Emerald Contreras from Iloilo RTC Branch 23 even declared in an addendum to the writ of possession she issued earlier that “the operation should still be handled by PECO personnel who have the technical expertise.”
On March 6, following MORE’s takeover, Judge Contreras ordered MORE to return operations to PECO, stating that she was still uncertain of MORE’s technical capability.
“The Regional Trial Court of Mandaluyong has already said that what MORE is trying to do is unconstitutional, but they keep trying to use misrepresentations and blatant lies to force their way in,” PECO Head of Public Engagement and Government Affairs Marcelo Cacho said.
“They even claim that they can do what we do when they clearly cannot, and this is considering that they unsuccessfully tried to pirate our technical experts.”
