BAGUIO CITY — The Benguet Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Beneco) secured an Emergency Power Supply Agreement (EPSA) with a unit of San Miguel Global Power last weekend to ensure continuous electricity for this city and Benguet province for at least a year.
The agreement signed last Friday by Beneco with Limay Power, Inc. (LPI) saved Baguio and Benguet from the brink of disconnection, following a notice from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) that Beneco’s substations will no longer receive electricity starting 12:01 p.m. on March 13, 2024.
“Honestly, we got worried a lot. Word was spreading fast that Beneco will be disconnected from the grid,” Beneco General Manager Melchor Licoben said, noting that the NGCP had cited that Beneco’s 20-year power supply contract with TeaM Philippines Energy Corp. (TPEC) was ending midnight of March 12.
Mr. Licoben clarified that the emergency power supply agreement with LPI “was not a fly by night pact or one that was hurriedly and hastily executed just to stave off the threat of disconnection.” He said it was the result of a series of negotiations with San Miguel Global.
As per rules of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), an emergency power supply agreement is brief in nature — one year. It is resorted to by distribution utilities as a stop gap measure while trying to secure a new power supplier that could offer a long-term contract. “This means that Beneco must be able to complete a Competitive Selection Process (CSP) for a new power supplier within the next 12 months,” Mr. Licoben said. — Artemio A. Dumlao
