Power rates in Clark the nation's lowest

By Mark Louie P. Roxas, MT Central Luzon Bureau 

CLARK ZONE:  More than 300 commercial and industrial firms at the Clark Special Economic Zone will save some P2.3 million a month after energy authorities granted the zone authority to reduce power rates.

Members of the Clark Investors and Locators Association cited Energy Secretary Rafael Lotilla and the attached agencies of the Department of Energy for giving the economic zone the country’s lowest power rates.

Carmen Mctavish, association chair, lauded the government for allowing them to enjoy reduced power rates in Clark since July 26.

Mariz Mandodoc, CDC Building and Urban Regulatory Department manager, said Clark enjoys an average rate of P5.31 for every kilowatt-hour compared to the P6.94/kwh rate from June to July before the National Power Corp. granted the reduced rate.             

Mctavish and Lena Villarama, association president, thanked the agencies responsible for the improvement of power transmission and distribution facilities in Clark.

CDC president Antonio R. Ng said the low rate and steady supply of electricity was achieved through the efforts of the association to make Clark zone a viable investment destination as envisioned by President Arroyo in her 10-point agenda.

Ng cited the contributions of Transco to improve the quality of power in Clark zone by installing a second alternate 69 KV line for Clark on August 29.

He said that “This means that when the original Transco portion of the 69 KV line requires a long eight-hour shutdown for preventive maintenance, we can readily switch to the alternate line in 30 minutes.” 

Ng added that a technical working group composed of Transco, CEDC and CDC officials meet to carry out other measures that would improve the quality of power in Clark, among them the repair of the on-load tap changer at the Mexico plant and possibly, the installation of a new 230/KV or 69 KV line for the Zone.

To reduce power interruptions in Clark, CEDC, with the help of the CDC engineering crew, pursued an aggressive tree-trimming activity that cleared the power lines of vegetation obstructions. 

As a result, from 26 power interruptions due to trees recorded in May, only seven were reported in June and two in July despite heavy rains.

Between August and September, there were no power interruptions in the zone caused by trees, Ng said.

He assured the investors of Clark’s continuing efforts to make rates more competitive without compromising the quality and reliability of electric supply