Central Negros Electric Cooperative signed a power purchase agreement with Palm Concepcion Power Corp. in Panay to supply electricity to its service area in 2016, its general manager Sulpicio Lagarde, said yesterday.

Lagarde said that under the agreement which was signed in April, this year, PCPC will supply 22 megawatts of power to CENECO at P5.10 to P5.30 per kilowatt hour once its coal-fired power plant in Brgy Nipa, Concepcion town, Iloilo, becomes operational.

The 135-megawtt power plant of the PCPC, a joint venture of Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corporation (A. Brown Company Inc.) and Jin Navitas Resource Inc., is expected to be fully operational in 2016.

During the road show for electric cooperatives at the Planta Centro Hotel and Residences in Bacolod City Friday, PCPC chairman Walter Brown said their P14-billion coal-fired power plant will not only resolve power woes in Panay island, but will also cover possible electricity deficits in Negros island.

Lagarde said they project that by 2016 the power demand in their service areas may reach 300 megawatts. He said they will present their agreement with PCPC to the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Meanwhile, CENECO is seeking the help of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod to set a schedule for a committee hearing so they could present the new tariff regime of the ERC for next year.

Lagarde said the Commission is reviewing the rates of electric cooperatives every three years to check whether there is a need to increase or decrease costs.*APN

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