MikeLigalig.com

By Rey Anthony Chiu
Philippine Information Agency-Bohol

The electric consumers of the island of Cabilao would have to make do with what they have now: 6 hours of power, at least until the Small Power utilities Group (SPUG) of the National Power Corporation (Napocor) takes over.

This was the categorical statement given by Bohol Electric Cooperative I general manager Engr. Carlos Itable to Loon Mayor Lloyd Peter Lopez at the recent League of Municipalities (LMP) meeting hosted by Catigbian last November 7.

At the meeting, the Loon mayor was asking Boheco the possibility of extending more service hours for the island residents. The standard power service hour now is from 6:00 pm to midnight, Mayor Lopez told the mayors and the Boheco dads.

Sad as it may for Cabilao residents, there could be another way, stressed Boheco I assistant General Manager Engr. Virgilio Fortich, in a phone interview recently.

For Engr. Fortich, if Loon could actually subsidize the generation costs of the power, and the local officials agree with the terms, Boheco might be able to offer more, but it all depends on the agreements that can be forged.

Cabilao, an island separated from mainland Bohol’s western side is located across Sawang Pass, a few hundred meters from the transmission lines of Sandingan island of the same town.

Being separated by the body of water, the feasibility of installing a powerline across the navigational route in Sawang makes it not so feasible, so the Philippine Coast Guard turned the plan down, Engr.  Fortich said.   

Boheco operates a 150 kilowatt diesel power generator in the island, and the generation cost alone has run up to almost P12.00, explains the Boheco assistant general manager.

He said, generation costs for a diesel powered generation is still too high and the only way it could be sustainable is by connecting the island to the power grids’ transmission lines, Fortich said.

And because the island operates under the Electric Consumers’ Association concept, the association also puts up a bit more for the systems loss and so power rates in the island turn up higher, he added.

General manager Itable, during the LMP forum then said the Boheco is about to turn the island over to the Napocor SPUG, and by then, the Bohol power provider would recommend for the SPUG for longer operation.

Asked if this would translate to higher cost, Engr Fortich said SPUG can use a government subsidy to keep the prices down.

The plan to turn over the power generation in Cabilao to the NPC has also moved Representative Edgar Chatto to action to start the necessary paperworks, Boheco officials said.

Over this, Bolheco also said they are just into preparing for the Cabilao generator programmed maintenance schedule to get the equipment ready for the Christmas power load.


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