By Jocelyn Montemayor and Jed Macapagal
AMID the recent hike on oil prices, President Duterte assured the public of ample supply of crude and petroleum products with a stockpile that could last up to 53.8 days.
The President, in his eighth weekly report to Congress submitted on Monday, said the inventory of crude oil and petroleum products available to the country stands at 3,142 million liters which is enough for a little over 53 days.
He said the inventory consists of 41.7 days worth of stocks on shore and 12.2 days worth of products in transit or set to arrive in the country soon.
Prices of petroleum products rose this week which coincided with the easing of lockdowns in some areas of the county amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The government had been looking into the establishment of a strategic petroleum reserve in the country as part of its effort to ensure energy security.
Power supply
Duterte, in the same report to Congress, said despite the high demand for electricity in the past days, the major island grids in the country had continued to provide enough supply, even surpassing the high demand peaks.
He said for Luzon, there was a 23 percent excess capacity, 27 percent in the Visayas and 35 percent in Mindanao.
The President’s report came at the midst of complaints over the high fees charged by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) during the quarantine period.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Malacanang is waiting for the guidelines to be issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) along with an expected adjustment of the recently charged rates.
Roque said ERC is still investigating the complaints.
“I think there would be adjustments. When I looked at my meter, because there was no reading of the meters, it was based on the history. I think ERC will come up with guidelines and Meralco will follow,” he said.
Convenience fee
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) has asked Meralco to explain the P47 convenience fee it charges to customers when paying bills using its website or mobile application.
In a letter to Meralco president and chief executive officer Ray Espinosa dated May 14, 2020, DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the transaction fee is “a clear deviation” to the government’s efforts to bring down the cost of utilities.
“The DOE is always supportive of progress and the use of technology to make customer relationships a pleasant and efficient experience. While we do recognize the effort of your company to help consumers in settling their power bills more conveniently, we have been receiving reports that your system effectively obliges the paying customer to depart from existing payment arrangements i.e. through banks and now they have to go through your app for which they have to pay a fee of P47 per transaction,” Cusi said.
“We would like your company to explain to us immediately the rationale of your new payment scheme and confirm if (it is correct and approved by management). Likewise, we would like to question your intentions on this and your decision to time the introduction of this new process during this pandemic,” Cusi added in his letter.
William Pamintuan, Meralco senior vice president and head of legal and corporate governance, said the online fees are charged by its online payment services provider.
Pamintuan said using Meralco’s mobile app and website are just among the many available payment options.
“In the interest of fairness and transparency, only customers availing of our online payment system should be charged with the online fees,” Pamintuan said.
