Drilon: NGCP impending purchase of PEDC assets,
a mere corporate greed, not public service

A plan by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to purchase the transmission assets of the Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) is a by-product of corporate greed and is not being proposed to advance public service, said Senator Franklin M. Drilon.

"This acquisition has nothing to do with public service, it is all corporate greed," said Drilon.

"As I see it, I could not find any reason - other than vested interest and the desire to rake up money - for the NGCP to decide to intervene in the distribution of electricity in Iloilo, since the present setup seems to be running smoothly, and is more advantageous to household consumers," stressed Drilon.

"The petition of NGCP will not work for the benefit of the residents of Iloilo City; instead, it will only be additional burden to them since the buyout will result in a substantial power hike," he added.

NGCP, the state's lone transmission networks provider, intends to buy the point-to-point assets of the PEDC for the amount of P600 million. PEDC operates the first 164-megawatt coal-fired power plant in La Paz, Iloilo which supplies electricity to Panay Electric Company Inc. (PECO) - the sole power distributor in the city - which is only one-kilometer away from PEDC, noted Drilon.

Drilon said electric power charges are likely to increase once the NGCP acquires assets of PEDC, for NGCP imposes transmission wheeling charges in using its system, which will eventually be passed on by power distributors to household consumers.

He estimated the planned buyout will increase the price of electric power by P1.00 per kilowatt hour in the 180 barangays being covered by PECO, which is obviously against the policies of the government.

Earlier, Drilon said the impending buyout will run counter to the true intent of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).