NGCP: China has no remote access to Philippine power grid
Credit to Author: Xave Gregorio| Date: Wed, 17 May 2023 13:07:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) denied anew that the transmission grid can be remotely accessed by China as senators raised fears that Beijing can shut off power across the Philippines.
While the State Grid Corporation of China owns a 40% stake in the NGCP with the remaining 60% owned by a Filipino consortium, the privately-owned grid operator assured the Senate energy panel on Wednesday that only Filipinos operate their substations.
“That’s not also correct, Mr. Chairman, because in the first place, only Filipinos are manning the substation,” Ronald Dylan Concepcion, NGCP assistant corporate secretary, said in reply to Sen. Raffy Tulfo, Senate energy panel chairperson.
Tulfo and other senators present during the hearing, however, were not convinced.
“It’s not easy to say that there is no national security threat when there is another country, a state-owned enterprise which has an obligation to collect information or intelligence to be given to Beijing about our country and even our government,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in Filipino.
Tulfo also said: “How do you know? You don’t even know anything about what I’m asking from you as corporate secretary.”
Earlier in the hearing, senators asked about dividends being handed out by the NGCP to its shareholders, with Tulfo alleging that 95% of its profits go to its investors and only five percent is reinvested for development.
But Concepcion was unable to respond to this allegation, telling senators: “We don’t have that information.”
“Don’t tell me that you are stupid,” Tulfo said. “Because if you say that you don’t know, you are stupid.”
Concepcion committed to submit the NGCP’s financial statements to the Senate panel within the day.
The Energy Regulatory Commission, however, told the committee that P12 billion of the NGCP’s P41-billion income in 2022 went to dividends.
The NGCP also said that it is “not accurate” that they are barring personnel of the Philippine government-owned and controlled National Transmission Corporation (TransCo), which owns the country’s grid, from entering their substations.
“We need to coordinate with each other for these visits,” Concepcion said. “I think what happens is that some TransCo personnel go to our substations unannounced.”
Tulfo said it was only right for TransCo personnel to go unannounced so that wrongdoings can be exposed.
Concepcion later said that personnel from a third-party auditor tapped by TransCo were barred from entering their substations, which was confirmed by Donna Caloza-Aleria of TransCo who added that they are also not allowed to inspect new projects.
“They maintain that new projects are not yet transmission assets and are not yet energized,” Caloza-Aleria said.
Some senators have suggested that the government take back operations of the country’s power grid, which was privatized in 2009.
Malacañang said Tuesday in a statement that the government will take back control of the NGCP “if necessary.”