Rotating brownouts lasting for hours could occur in the Catanduanes power grid once Sunwest Water & Electricity Co. (SUWECO) runs out of cash to pay for the fuel that runs its diesel gensets, a consequence of the freeze order covering the assets of its majority owner, former Rep. Elizaldy Co.
Answering a query sent by the Tribune, a ranking official of the power company confirmed that SUWECO bank accounts were among those included in the freeze order issued by the Court of Appeals late last month on P12 billion in assets linked to the flood control corruption probe.
The SUWECO official stated that the company has no other information on the issue pending final directives from top management.
“We are all aware of the effects (of the freeze order) once the company has no more available cash to pay for the diesel fuel to enable us to continue operating the gensets,” the officer who sought anonymity added.
In a video statement on Nov. 26, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the two freeze orders obtained by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) included P4 billion in air assets belonging to Co as well as 3,566 bank accounts, 198 insurance policies, 247 motor vehicles, 178 real properties, and 16 e-wallet accounts.
With its accounts frozen and offices closed following the revocation of its licenses, the Sunwest group of companies has allegedly laid off over 5,000 employees in the Bicol mainland, including those of its construction company, a luxury island resort and flying school.
Co, who has accused Marcos of being responsible for a P100 billion insertion in the 2025 budget, had signed the Power Supply Agreement with the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. as then SUWECO president and chief executive in 2010, 2011 and 2016.
Another island that could be affected by the freeze order is Tablas in Romblon province where SUWECO runs the 7.5-megawatt Tumingad Solar Power Project and 8.8-mW of diesel gensets serving over 43,400 households in nine towns.
The company is also engaged in supplying power to Antique since 2010 and operates the P1.2 billion Villasiga-1 hydro power plant, the first on Panay island.
According to recent data, the Catanduanes grid has a net dependable capacity of 25.41 mW, of which 93 percent comes from SUWECO’s two hydroelectric power plants in Hitoma and Solong, as well as 14 diesel gensets at Marinawa Diesel Power Plant, three at Viga DPP and six others deployed in Marinawa under the Emergency Power Supply Agreement (EPSA).
The other seven percent is supplied by the National Power Corporation’s 1,8-mW Balongbong hydropower plant in Bato.
Of SUWECO’s two hydropower plants, the one at Hitoma is under plant maintenance due to damage left by super typhoon Uwan.
Four diesel gensets are either defective, due for replacement of parts or under preventive maintenance, leaving SUWECO with 13.85 mW available for dispatch into the grid as of last week.
Along with NPC Balongbong HPP’s 1.7-mW, the grid has available power of 15.55 mW for a net reserve of 3.515 mW.
If SUWECO runs out of cash to pay its supplier, Unioil, for the diesel fuel requirement of its gensets, which sources say is about P3 million per day, it could be forced to shut down its diesel power plants.
Assuming that the AMLC sequesters all its power assets altogether and prevents the company personnel from operating even the two hydro plants, the Catanduanes grid and its 61,000 consumers would be literally deprived of electricity as NPC’s 1.7-mW would not be even enough to light up the entire Virac población.
Legally, according to industry experts, the likelihood of FICELCO stepping in to operate the company’s power plants is nil.
Even if the diesel supply is assured, the added cost of oil and lubricants as well as salaries and wages of plant personnel would require a sizeable amount of cash.
It is claimed that the response of Malacañang to the expected crisis would be similar to what the National Electrification Administration (NEA) did in the province of Siquijor when the gensets of Siquijor Island Power Corporation (SIPCOR) bogged down last June.
NEA expedited repairs on the supplier’s gensets and facilitated the installation of a borrowed genset from Palawan as well as the rental of additional gensets from SIPCOR.
Similar modular gensets could be rented by the agency and sent to Catanduanes where it could be connected to the grid at the NPC substations in Marinawa in Bato, Viga and Codon in San Andres.