Sugar leaders hit COA,
defend SRA on P24.8M
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Leaders of three sugar federations yesterday came to the defense of the Sugar Regulatory Administration and slammed the Commission on Audit for ruling that the SRA’s release of P24.8 million to a non-government organization is illegal.

A report in a national paper over the weekend said the SRA was found to be illegally releasing millions of pesos in public funds to a NGO it did not identify to finance anti-smuggling operations.

SRA Administrator Ma. Regina Martin told the DAILY STAR nothing anomalous had been committed, as the funds in question were not government funds, they were voluntary contributions of planters for the anti-smuggling drive released by the SRA through the Sugar Master Plan Foundation (SMPF), the NGO alluded to.

P6B power plants to
rise in San Carlos
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Solar and biomass power plants costing $142 million or P 6.115 billion will soon rise in San Carlos City in Negros Occidental, Jose Maria Zabaleta, chairman of the firms undertaking both projects, said yesterday.

This will bring to three the number of power plants in San Carlos City producing clean energy, he told the DAILY STAR.

The San Carlos Bioenergy that produces 40 million liters of ethanol annually from sugarcane also has a co-generation plant that uses bagasse to produce 9 megawatts of power, Zabaleta, who chairs the firm, said.

Ceneco rates down
75c in September

Central Negros Electric Cooperative  announced yesterday  that its residential rates for September will be P9.2653/kWh, a decrease of P0.7573/kWh from last month’s P10.0226/kWh.

Residential consumers with a monthly average energy consumption of 200 kilowatt-hours will benefit from a decrease of approximately P150 in their electricity bill for the month of September 2013, Ceneco general manager, Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. said in a press release.

The generation charges, the biggest contributory factor in the rate impact, decreased by P0.6437 or 10.51 percent as compared to the previous month due to the lower price in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). Other contributory factors include decreases in Transmission Charges, System Loss Charges, Total VAT, Lifeline Rate Subsidy and Mandatory Rate Reduction, the press release said.