THE electricity provider in Occidental Mindoro has announced plans to shut down operations because its local fuel supplier has refused to extend its ballooning credit line, Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Omeco) Board of Directors President Rodolfo Plopinio said.

A possible shutdown could affect Omeco customers, who are the 83,000 residents in San Jose, Magsaysay, Rizal, Calintaan, Sablayan, Sta. Cruz, Paluan, Mamburao, and Abra de Ilog in Mindoro Occidental as well as the commercial and industrial clients of the electric cooperative.

“Please be informed that our plant can only operate up to June 1, at 0600 hrs, if we continue to operate our three gensets (generation sets) at full capacity. This is in connection with our previous letter informing you that the plant will cease operation due to the reason that our fuel supplier will no longer deliver fuel to our plant site unless we settle our payments to them. Our existing fuel stock in the plant will only last up to the said date and we do not have any choice but to shut down our plant operations,” the letter of Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. (OMCPC) to Omeco reads.

When asked if there are unpaid debts of Omeco to OMCPC, Plopinio replied: “Wala, wala kaming utang dyan [OMCPC], advance pa ang payment namin diyan, may legal basis kami diyan na bawal magkautang sa supplier dahil babagsak ang rating ng Omeco sa NEA (National Electrification Administration). Ang order ng NEA ipriority ninyo lagi ang supplier ninyo. Hindi kami nagpapahuli ng bayad, advance pa lagi (None. We have no debts to OMCPC. We have a legal mandate to pay our suppliers on time, or else our rating as an electric cooperative will decline with the NEA. Our payments are even advanced to OMCPC).” OMCPC, on the other hand, said Omeco has not complied with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) directive to pay a fuel subsidy on top of the monthly regular billing, OMCPC Chief Operating Officer Calvin Genotiva told The Manila Times, adding that the ERC has penalized Omeco since 2016 for failing to find a renewable energy supplier and has opted to get an independent power producer like OMCPC, whose plants rely on diesel-powered generation sets.

Genotiva noted that the regular monthly bills of Omeco are paid but the fuel subsidy of 50 percent that should be shouldered by the latter remains unpaid from Dec. 26, 2021 until May this year, adding that state-run National Power Corp. (NPC) should pay the remaining 50 percent.