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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
The heads of the region’s power firms called
on their respective governments to relax their grip on electricity
rates to ensure adequate power supply amid the soaring price of fuel
in the world market.
The proposal was broached by the Heads of Asean
Power Utilities/Authorities (Hapua) in a meeting held in Cebu last
week, which said that government constraints on the adjustment of
electricity rates are causing severe financial strain on power
utilities, which in turn results in sizable subsidies in the retail
electricity tariff.
The Hapua council, which is chaired by
Philippines’ National Power Corp. President Cyril del Callar,
expressed its concern on the impact of this status quo on the
long-term sustainability and security of power supply.
While it has acknowledged the customers’
interests, the council said there is a need to consider reasonable
adjustments on tariffs to keep power firms’ finances afloat as the
“inability to sustain security of supply would be a more costly
proposition in the long term.”
But aside from supply-side measures, the council
called on demand-side management from electricity end-users to
promote energy efficiency in the region.
In light of the soaring price of fuel, the Hapua
council said that Asean governments should look into the development
of nuclear power as an energy option to meet future electricity
demand in the Asean region and to strengthen their support for
alternative and renewable sources of energy.
Besides this, it added that the continuing
accelerated expansion of the Asean economies amid high fuel prices
has prompted increased urgency to hasten the power system
integration in the region.
It said that the proposed Asean Power Grid
should be at the forefront of this initiative and therefore calls
for the continued commitment of the respective governments on this
undertaking.
Hapua is a forum among utilities from all
10-member countries of the Asean from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
The forum fosters greater cooperation in
implementing the different Asean Power Grid Programs. Its primary
objective is to optimize the use of energy resources and help bring
electricity to a greater number of people in the region.
Other objectives of the concerned Hapua working
group are to complete related priority projects like nontechnical
losses, technical losses, operations and maintenance, materials
management, asset management, co-generation, distribution and
customer relationship management.
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