Electricity in Mindanao, the southern Philippines, comes largely from hydroelectric schemes and is cheap so people do not want to invest in the power sector, Father Jose Ramon Villarin said.
The region suffers brown-outs that can last up to five hours a day.
A dry spell resulting from El Nino has contributed to the crisis, but “here the problem is lack of investors,” Father Villarin, president of the Jesuit-owned Xavier University, said.
More energy is needed to keep pace with the fast growth of Northern Mindanao, he said.
This reflects the problem with privatizing a public utility, Father Villarin notes. “Public good is not always the top concern.”
The Aboitiz and Alcantara groups of companies around Mindanao are investing in the sector, if only to fuel their own businesses.
Others are wary also because of peace and order threats, Father Villarin said.
Bombing of transmitters is blamed on communist or other rebels in some provinces.
Edgardo Calabio, regional executive for Mindanao of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), told UCA News that hydro plants generate 70 percent of Mindanao’s power supply.
With “so much” of the electricity coming from water, it can be sold at low rates.
“It’s a blessing and a curse because no one is putting up power plants when they cannot recover their investments,” Calabio said.
Calabio and other officials propose increasing power rates, but Father Villarin warns of consumer protests.
Mindanao consumers pay an average of 6.58 pesos (US$0.14) per kilowatt hour compared to 7.22 pesos in central Philippines’ Cebu City and Metro Manila’s 9.32 pesos.
Father Villarin says recent calamity aid that President Gloria Arroyo released for Mindanao’s power problems could only provide temporary relief. A more permanent solution needed to be addressed.
Arroyo’s declaration of a state of calamity last week saw the release of five percent of national calamity funds for the Mindanao power crisis.
“My concern is money is flowing when there seems to be no strong central authority directing the relief efforts,” Father Villarin said.