The Energy Regulatory Commission granted the Cebu City government’s petition to intervene in the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) application to pass on to consumers the P34.2 million cost of repair of a transformer damaged by lightning.
In an ERC order dated May 13 and received by the office of Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival this morning, the ERC said it found reasonable the Cebu City government move to intervene in Veco’s petition.
“The City Council’s committee on energy, headed by yours truly filed a petition to intervene, for the reason that it has a direct and substantial interest in the subject’s outcome and whose objective is to promote, advance and protect the welfare of its constituency who are consumers of VECO,” Archival said in his Facebook page. Veco filed on April 7, 2014 a comment saying that the Cebu City government’s petition is lacking in merit but ERC said otherwise.
“It is a local government unit whose objective is to promote, advance, and protect the welfare of its constituency who are consumers of Veco,” the ERC order reads. The Cebu City council previously opposed the petition filed by Veco to pass on the cost of repair of their TR4 transformer when it was hit by a thunderstorm on May 27, 2013.
The transformer is located in the Cebu substation of the National Grid Corp.. The pass on cost would mean a P5.92 per kilowatt hour charge. A pre-trial conference and hearing is set on May 27, 2014 at the NEDA Region office in Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City. /With Marian Z. Codilla