Bohol
Light Company Inc. (BLCI) will soon impose a 26.24 centavos per kilowatt-hour
(kw/h) increase even as consumers face a 40-percent water rate hike implemented
by its sister utility company Bohol Water Utilities Inc. (BWUI).
Bohol
Light's petition for increase which is now pending at the Energy Regulatory Commission
(ERC) is met with even more resistance by its concessionaires and City Mayor Dan
Lim after the ERC's notice of hearing was served late.
Mayor
Lim vowed to contest the power rate adjustment as he has done with the 40-percent
water rate hike of Bohol Water.
The
ERC ordered for a public hearing on Bohol Light's application for approval of
proposed rate adjustment last December 4 setting a hearing to allow its customers
the opportunity to present their respective cases last Monday, December 11.
However,
notice of said hearing was received by stakeholders only last Tuesday, December
12, a day after the scheduled hearing in Pasig City.
| | | Mayor
Lim, in an interview with the Chronicle, pointed out the apparent attempt to pull-off
the power rate hike without giving sufficient time to the utility's consumers
and stakeholders to prepare for an appropriate action prior to the hearing.
The
hearing date was scheduled just a few days after the ERC decided to issue a notice
to BLCI and its consumers. The hearing was held at the ERC in Pasig City.
According
to Lim, Bohol Light has no authority to assume the approved rate increase granted
by the Energy Regulatory Board (ERB) on March 30, 2000 to the former Provincial
Public Utilities Department (PPUD). |
Bohol
Light and Bohol Water assumed the operations of PPUD on December 2000.
Moreover,
Mayor Lim cited that Bohol Light was granted franchise.
Also
evident in the notice of hearing was the failure of ERC to furnish a copy to the
provincial government which owns 30-percent of Bohol Light shares.
In a separate
interview with the Chronicle, Atty. Victor dela Serna
said the increase applied for by Bohol Light is illegal since it was submitted
to the ERC allegedly even without approval from members of the company's board
of directors.
Dela Serna serves as the provincial government's sitting member
in the Bohol Light board together with former governor Atty. David Tirol.
Dela
Serna cited that since his appointment to the BLCI board last year, the rate adjustment
was never taken up, otherwise, he and Tirol would have objected to it.
Bohol
Light filed a "manifestation" at the ERC last November 9 asking that
the company be allowed to implement an increase in its basic charge by 26.24 centavos
per kilowatt-hour. This adjustment will be applied on both residential and commercial
consumers.
The
power utility firm, controlled by majority shareholder Salcon, is proposing the
power rate hike for the first time since its takeover of the former Provincial
Public Utilities Department (PPUD) on December 2000.
The
ERC set a restriction to the company prohibiting to impose an increase within
5-years from its takeover of the public utility.
Bohol
Light is currently charging P5.3275 per kilowatt-hour on its residential consumers
while commercial customers pay P5.7275 per kilowatt-hour.
Comparative
data, as of November 2006, among power utility firms serving in Central Visayas
shows that Bohol Light is collecting slightly lesser compared to Cebu's CEBECO
2 and VECO, Dumaguete's NORECO 2 and Siquijor's PROSIELCO.
CEBECO-2
charge P6.87 per kw/h for their residential consumers and P5.65 per kw/h for commercial
connections. VECO collects P6.77 per kw/h from residential consumers while commercial
concessionaires pay P6.57 per kw/h. NORECO-2 charge P5.69 per kw/h from residential
consumers and P5.87 per kw/h on commercial connections. PROSEILCO residential
consumers pay P8.67 per kw/h while commercial consumers are charged P7.97 per
kw/h.
However,
dela Serna claimed that with the lifting of the ERC 5-year price cap, Bohol Light
could propose power rate increases whenever it decides.
Being
a semi-privatized company, Bohol Light have no other concern but to make profits,
according to dela Serna, at the expense of its consumers.
Mayor
Lim is contemplating legal action on Bohol Light's increase while hearing of its
petition for review and issuance of injunction against the 40-percent water rate
hike of Bohol Water is now pending at the Regional Trial Court.
The
mayor had earlier expressed keen interest on acquiring 70-percent of the Salcon
equity of the two utility firms through a self-liquidating loan being supported
by government banks. | 
