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Turn off your appliances when not in use.
The simple act of turning off unused lights would also help ease the demand on limited power supply, said Ethel Natera, spokesperson of the Visayan Electric Company (Veco).
“We have to do our share. Otherwise the whole system would go off. We would all suffer,” she told CEBU DAILY NEWS.
A 200-megawatt deficit in power reserves has triggered one-hour rotating brownouts in Cebu province this month.
Jess Alcordo, president of the Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC), expressed optimism that Cebu would have a bright Christmas when power plant maintenance work is finished.
“I don't think it will really be that bad. By December, hopefully we should have a bright Christmas,” he said.
Natera said Veco is asking other major establishments like hotels to join the interruptible load program where big industry users to rely on their own generator sets at a given time to ease demand on existing supply.
So far, only Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino has joined in the program.
Veco is asking the help of Hotels Resorts Restaurants Association of Cebu to help convince their members in the wake of the shortage of power supply.
Last night alone, Natera said the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) grid was short of 120 megawatts (MW). Of this volume, 38.9 MW of which was supposed to go to Veco, the grid’s biggest consumer.
(Unconfirmed reports reached CDN that a power plant serving the grid tripped off, contributing to the shortage but Natera said she was not privy to this.)
Veco is notified by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) of any reductions in their daily supply.
Veco was notified late yesterday afternoon about last night's reduction of power supply by 120 MW.
Cebu has been suffering from a power reserve deficit but it worsened in September and this month due to ongoing maintenance repair of some power plants.
Veco’s hour-long rotating brownouts affects different parts of Metro Cebu.
Yesterday, the interruptions affected barangays Carreta, Tejero, Tinago, HipodoromoT. Padilla, San Roque, Mabolo, Mambaling, Punta, Basak, Pardo, Kinasang-an, Guadalupe, Capitol Site, Banawa, Talamban, Banilad, downtown area and the Reclamation area in Cebu City.
Power outages were also felt in parts of Mandaue and Talisay cities and in Consolacion town.
During peak demand, Veco needs about 330 MW between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Large consumers are being asked to deload from the grid during a power shortage in order to give priority to households, said Ricardo Lacson, Veco vice president for administration and consumer services group.
Households, in turn, are asked to help by conserving energy.
Veco has been campaigning for the use of compact florescent lamp (CFL) and proper setting of air-conditioning units, electric fans and other appliances.
Some companies agreed to deload yesterday as part of Veco’s program.
First to respond was Ayala Center Cebu, which shed off 3 MW.
San Miguel Corp. Metro Ayala, and Metro Colon followed, enabling Veco to save 10 MW and distribute it to households, benefitting at least 1,000 consumers.
“We should be thanking them for heeding our request not to get power from Veco because it is costly to run a generator set,” Natera said.
She said she remained hopeful that power supply would normalize by the first week of November, when power plants, whose maintenance work is completed, are operational again.
Jess Alcordo, president of the Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC), said cooperation between the government and the business sector especially inthe voluntary load shedding was helpful.
By the first quarter of 2010, he said Cebu would have an additional 146 MW because new coal-fired plants in Toledo City would be operational by February and April.
Each plant has a net capacity of 73 MW.
Veco has signed a 105-MW Electric Power Purchase Agreement with CEDC for 25 years.
Rise in BPOs increases power needs
THE increase in Cebu's power needs is mainly due to a surge in the number of Business Process Outsourcing companies and real estate projects.
“New demand for power at present is mostly coming from BPO companies like call centers and real estate development activities which have grown very fast with the recent demand for commercial and residential buildings and projects,” said Joel Yu, Cebu Investments and Promotions Center managing director.
Manufacturing is no longer Cebu's biggest industry . When some of these stopped operating, it hardly made a dent in Cebu's energy requirement, he said.
Based on a list from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, there are 65 registered BPOs, call centers, software development, and other I.T companies in Cebu with a total of 36,614 employees as of June 29.
This listing does not include other BPO companies here in Cebu that are not registered under PEZA.
Rodulfo Lafradez, general manager for Cebu of Colliers International (Philippines), said that there are close to 20 hotels and condominium projects that were built this year alone.
“On the average, there are about six hotels within a 1 kilometer radius in Cebu.”
His company is an affiliation of privately owned companies that provides real estate market information.
Yu said while the global economic crisis affected some industries in Cebu like manufacturing companies in the economic zones on Mactan Island, it did not really hurt BPOs and real estate.
Instead these two sectors registered growth after Cebu was recognized as one of the best cities in the world to put up a BPO company, he said.
Eric Ng Mendoza, president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce, said Cebu has continuously grown as a commercial hub.
Yu said that Cebu should start encouraging new power suppliers especially since the businesses that would be put up at the South Road Properties would require additional power.
“The Filinvest project will be breaking ground this December which is a very huge project and would require power,” he said.
A new mall will be constructed at the SRP, which will also requires more power.
