Transmission firm no power supplier

This refers to the news item “2 more hours added to Davao power outages” (Across the Nation, 8/1/15).

The article states, in part: “Power interruptions in the city would take two hours longer than they are now as a result of a continued decline in the supply of electricity from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), according to an official of the city’s lone power distributor.”

We would like to clarify that NGCP does not supply electricity; it merely transmits high-voltage electricity from power producers to distribution utilities through its interconnected system of transmission cables and towers, substations and related assets.

The buying strategy for electricity supply in any given area is the responsibility of the electric cooperative/distribution utility, not NGCP’s. The contract for supply is, similarly, between the electric cooperative/distribution utility and the different power plants; it does not involve NGCP.

—CYNTHIA D. PEREZ-ALABANZA, spokesperson and head, corporate communications and public affairs department, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines