The Department of Energy (DOE) is targeting a “no rate hike” scenario after the two-week shutdown of the Malampaya gas production facility this February.
In a report by the Manila Bulletin, Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina L. Guevara claimed that the ‘no rate hike’ situation “is the best case scenario…when we do not have to run other plants,” considering the shutdown will happen in February, which falls in during a low-consumption period.
Guevara said that the increase will only happen if the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants, the two MERALCO contracted facilities, will dispatch their committed full load of 314.62 megawatts (MW), and 141.88 MW, respectively.
Santa Rita plant’s installed capacity is at 1,000MW, while San Lorenzo generates 500MW in capacity. However, the DOE official noted that during the Malampaya maintenance shutdown, the plant’s full load will be redefined based on its committed generation run during Malampaya’s outage period.
Guevara further stated that the additional costs will still depend on the “consumption of end-users”, meaning if the power consumption is lower, then there will be lesser cost impact.
