Senator Raffy Tulfo is calling for the investigation of the Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (NORDECO) to prove its negligence and hold it accountable for the power outages in the Island Garden City of Samal, which is now under a state of calamity.
“Sunod -sunod na energy crisis na ang nararanasan sa ating bansa. Matapos sa Occidental Mindoro at Panay Island, ngayon naman sa Samal Island!” Tulfo said.
“Pananagutin ang may kapabayaan at mahanapan ng pangmatagalang solusyon.”
“Sa hearing sa Committee on Energy, tatalakayin ang usapin hinggil sa energy crisis sa Samal Island at pananagutin ang may kapabayaan at mahanapan ng pangmatagalang solusyon. Pero sa lumilitaw ngayon, ang NORDECO umano ang ugat ng kapalpakan dahil sa sintanda na ng kanilang mga ninuno ang naghihikahos na submarine cable doon na hindi pa napapalitan,” the legislator added.
On average, the power outage in the area lasts up 7-8 hours during peak load and 2-3 hours during off peak, daily. This has been going on since last year.
The Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (NORDECO) apparently failed to prepare for the increase in electricity demand in the area, considering that before the island became a tourist spot, the lack of electricity here was unnoticed.
And now that Samal Island is frequented by tourists, its peak demand went up from 3 megawatts (MW) to 9MW due to the rise of establishments such as resorts, restaurants and markets.
It can be noted that Samal Island is connected to the Pantukan Grid via a submarine cable owned by NORDECO.
The antiquated submarine cable was installed in the 1980s or 43 years ago, and it can no longer cover the entire capacity of the island.
Presently, the Mindoro Grid Corporation (MGC) can provide 6.962MW of electricity in the island while NORDECO can provide 3MW. In total, there is only 6.12MW supply in the island with a demand of 9MW.
NORDECO, formerly known as Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Daneco), has been reportedly criticized by its consumer cooperatives for its failure to provide a stable power supply to its area coverage.
“We need to ensure that there would be a provision in the Power Supply Agreement requiring replacement power.”
As such, the lawmaker underscored the need to ensure that there would be a provision in the Power Supply Agreement (PSA) requiring replacement power, through modular gensets, for all power providers to ensure reliable electric service.
The senator added that the said agreement should also include the requirement for “causer’s pay” clause so the consumers will not be required to pay for gensets.
In turn, the party with mistakes are the ones responsible to pay for power service.
