To balance its supply sourcing, Capiz Electric Cooperative (CAPELCO) has inked a 10-year power supply deal with Green Core Geothermal Inc. (GCGI), a unit of publicly-listed Energy Development Corporation, to account for 70-percent of its power requirements.

The electric cooperative considers its supply pact with GCGI as its leverage on securing relatively cheaper-priced power; while the 30-percent balance will be from more expensive sources.

“It’s good that we get 70 percent of our supply from GCGI’s geothermal plants and only 30 percent from more expensive sources,” CAPELCO general manager Edgar Diaz noted.

He further remarked that with the new agreement, “we are able to provide both our residential and industrial customers with clean, stable and affordable power.”

The committed supply, which would be able to energize 17 cities and municipalities in Capiz province, will be coming from GCGI’s 12-megawatt geothermal facility in Leyte and Negros Oriental.

From EDC president and chief operating officer Richard B. Tantoco’s end, he stressed that “the pricing of indigenous renewable energy resource such as geothermal is not only independent of any indexation to movements in global energy indices but is also VAT-zero rated.”

The VAT zero-rating privilege accorded on the resource, he further explained would render “our rates cheaper compared to those offered by coal and diesel-fired power plants.”

The supply pact with the CAPELCO came next after an earlier deal with other electric cooperatives in the Visayas, namely the Aklan Electric Cooperative and Iloilo Electric Cooperative I.

The Lopez-owned geothermal subsidiary is the owner and operator of the 112.5-MW Tongonan and 192.5-MW Palinpinon geothermal facilities in the Visayas.

The assets have been part of its acquisition in the privatization exercise undertaken by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) aimed at dismantling of the monopoly of the National Power Corporation.

The latest acquisitions made by the Lopez group have been the 150-MW Bacon-Manito geothermal plants which are targeted for turnover next month.