Listening to the current events in the Philippines this morning via on-line radio, I can not help but smile to myself when I heard Senator Sergio Osmeña III saying “Why don’t you burn or dynamite the plant and sell it for scrap? You’re fooling a lot of people.” he was referring to the Malaya Power Plant which is supposedly on standby readily available to get on-line when power supply reserve goes below the projected requirement. Instead it was not used and Meralco was arguably bought more expensive electricity from Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
What is happening to our country? Businessmen are trying to manipulate consumer on paying fees which are supposed to be paid by them. Government officials are becoming rubber stamps of these businessmen. After the smoked has cleared, the Filipino people will suffer.
The Filipino Engineer working for the government or the private sector knows that there should be a reserve power in the event of a maintenance shutdown or an emergency, that is, the main purpose of the Malaya Power plant. But why did it not serve its purpose? The main reason, money, profit or what ever you may call it! It is very expensive to operate a plant that is not being normally utilized. And may not be able to predict when will it be needed. Will be today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or it may not even be utilized at all.
Malaya Power plant is an insurance that in the event of the power reserve dips below the required, it kicks in. But businesses behind it do not bother paying the premium. Anyway, in the end, they will just pass to the consumer whatever additional expenses they incur in purchasing more expensive power.