Energy audit of private firms required under House bill

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali: Energy audit FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Auditing public funds is key to uncovering anomalies, and one lawmaker wants to apply the practice to the energy consumption of private business establishments.

Such establishments must conduct regular energy audits, where their energy consumption and costs will be reviewed to determine ways they can conserve energy and achieve savings, reads the bill filed by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chair of the House energy committee.

An energy audit is one of the key features of Umali’s measure, which seeks to institutionalize energy conservation and efficiency and to grant incentives for projects of that nature.

Conservation officer

The bill would require private establishments, categorized into two types depending on their annual energy consumption, to implement energy-saving practices.

These establishments include office buildings, hotels, schools, manufacturing firms, rail, air and sea passenger companies, and other businesses.

One requirement is the employment of an energy conservation officer or certified energy manager who will oversee the consumption of energy by facilities, equipment and devices; improve energy efficiency measures; and prepare a periodic energy consumption report.

They must also conduct, through energy auditors certified by bodies accredited by the Department of Energy, an energy audit every three years and submit the report to the DOE.

Specific consumption

They will be required to improve specific energy consumption by at least one percent year on year.

Another provision is for the setting up of programs to design and develop measures that promote energy efficiency, conservation and sufficiency through the use of renewable energy technologies.

Umali, in the explanatory note to his bill, said it was important that the government ensured that the energy produced was used in a manner that would promote sustainable development in order to spur economic growth.

“It should be the goal of government to directly and aggressively promote energy efficiency and conservation by making it a way of life. This demand-side approach contributes to the national economy and preserves the environment as well, through the reduction of harmful emissions,” he said.

To promote the use of renewable energy technologies, the bill mandates the Department of Finance and agencies concerned to draw up mechanisms for the grant of subsidies or tax credits equivalent to 100 percent of customs duties and national internal revenue taxes on machinery and equipment, whether for household use or industries that buy and install these machinery and equipment.

Incentives

The DOE should endorse projects utilizing pioneering energy-efficiency technologies to the Board of Investments so they could be granted incentives for five years. The incentives include duty-free importation of technologies and an income tax holiday.

The DOE must also work with other government agencies and the private sector to effectively implement sustainable energy efficiency and conservation policies of the government. It should likewise collaborate with the business sector to broaden their efficient and judicious utilization of energy.

Local government units must set up an Office of Sustainable Energy Efficiency and Conservation, according to the bill.