NO WAY can I – and most certainly thousands of other consumers – conceive of the Angeles Electric Corp. (AEC) as “also a victim” on the twin issues of frequent power outages and soaring power rates.
The statement of the AEC (published in this paper’s front page May 13) in reaction to mounting complaints from consumers raised more questions than it sought to answer.
So the AEC fingered the National Power Corp. and the National Transmission Corp. as the cause of the recent and more frequent blackouts.
“The recent outages have been the result of technical trouble within the transmission system of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (formerly Transco) over which we have no control.” So said the AEC statement.
So we grant that, arguendo. Still, AEC failed to rationalize, much less justify, the utter irrationality of power rates soaring despite the frequent brownouts.
It could only be that AEC’s electric meters are working even when there are power outages. And working overtime when there is power even if machineries and appliances are plugged out of their sockets. That is the only plausible reason we can think of with these 40 to 60 percent increases in the electric bills of both residences and factories.
Then, there is the statement of AEC customer service manager Myra Rivera that her company generates “limited power through our generating plant and source from our IPP, Angeles Power Inc., as an alternative supply source…the capacities of both our IPP and our generation plant are not enough to supply the requirement of the entire city, thus, the need for power rotation.”
Note the underscoring in the above paragraph. That is a categorical admission by the AEC of its incapacity to service the entire Angeles City.
The question now arises: If AEC cannot meet the power requirements of the city, how in hell, can it justify its expansion to areas outside the city, notably Dau in Mabalacat, Telabastagan in the City of San Fernando, portions of Porac, and the Xevera project in Calibutbut, Bacolor?
Utter greed there? Masaklo mata in Kapampangan. Perhaps even matakba as the people of the coastal barangays are wont to say to anyone insatiable.
From that perspective, AEC is certainly no victim. Assuredly, it makes the victimizer.
In effect, to take Madame Rivera’s words, AEC has spread itself too thinly, putting much strain on its already-limited capacity, to the sufferance of its consumers. This is most manifest in AEC’s practice of power rotation. Something like the Filipino game of sungka with electricity substituting for the shells that are moved from one hole to the other.
In management parlance, AEC has already reached its level of incompetence. Which is more prevalent in monopolies than in laissez faire.
Arrogance is inhered in a monopoly. That which is encapsulized in the kanto lingo: “Kung ayaw mo, huwag mo. Sino naman ang iba pang pupuntahan mo?” The consumers having no option there. Acceding to every imposition of the monopoly. Suffering its every whim. Bearing with all its shortcomings.
Whereas, competition grants the consumers the freedom of choice, even as it engenders greater quality of goods and services. You don’t measure up to the standards consumers prefer, you fold up.
With the current state of disservice obtaining at the AEC, perhaps it is way past time the power monopoly in Angeles City is put to an end.
The statement of the AEC (published in this paper’s front page May 13) in reaction to mounting complaints from consumers raised more questions than it sought to answer.
So the AEC fingered the National Power Corp. and the National Transmission Corp. as the cause of the recent and more frequent blackouts.
“The recent outages have been the result of technical trouble within the transmission system of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (formerly Transco) over which we have no control.” So said the AEC statement.
So we grant that, arguendo. Still, AEC failed to rationalize, much less justify, the utter irrationality of power rates soaring despite the frequent brownouts.
It could only be that AEC’s electric meters are working even when there are power outages. And working overtime when there is power even if machineries and appliances are plugged out of their sockets. That is the only plausible reason we can think of with these 40 to 60 percent increases in the electric bills of both residences and factories.
Then, there is the statement of AEC customer service manager Myra Rivera that her company generates “limited power through our generating plant and source from our IPP, Angeles Power Inc., as an alternative supply source…the capacities of both our IPP and our generation plant are not enough to supply the requirement of the entire city, thus, the need for power rotation.”
Note the underscoring in the above paragraph. That is a categorical admission by the AEC of its incapacity to service the entire Angeles City.
The question now arises: If AEC cannot meet the power requirements of the city, how in hell, can it justify its expansion to areas outside the city, notably Dau in Mabalacat, Telabastagan in the City of San Fernando, portions of Porac, and the Xevera project in Calibutbut, Bacolor?
Utter greed there? Masaklo mata in Kapampangan. Perhaps even matakba as the people of the coastal barangays are wont to say to anyone insatiable.
From that perspective, AEC is certainly no victim. Assuredly, it makes the victimizer.
In effect, to take Madame Rivera’s words, AEC has spread itself too thinly, putting much strain on its already-limited capacity, to the sufferance of its consumers. This is most manifest in AEC’s practice of power rotation. Something like the Filipino game of sungka with electricity substituting for the shells that are moved from one hole to the other.
In management parlance, AEC has already reached its level of incompetence. Which is more prevalent in monopolies than in laissez faire.
Arrogance is inhered in a monopoly. That which is encapsulized in the kanto lingo: “Kung ayaw mo, huwag mo. Sino naman ang iba pang pupuntahan mo?” The consumers having no option there. Acceding to every imposition of the monopoly. Suffering its every whim. Bearing with all its shortcomings.
Whereas, competition grants the consumers the freedom of choice, even as it engenders greater quality of goods and services. You don’t measure up to the standards consumers prefer, you fold up.
With the current state of disservice obtaining at the AEC, perhaps it is way past time the power monopoly in Angeles City is put to an end.
