Aquino urges public to help prevent brownouts, keep aircon usage low
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Help save energy by limiting your use of air-conditioning units. That was the advise of President Benigno Aquino III to the people amid the possibility of energy shortage and brownouts.
“Pag hindi natin pinagtulungan, talagang kakapusin tayo sa kasalukuyan,” Aquino said at the sidelines of his inspecton of the North Port Passenger Terminal in Manila.
(If we don’t work together, we will experience shortages at present.)
The President said he was briefed by Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla that the month of May would be crucial because of the tight power supply.
He said Petilla advised lessening the use of air-conditioners or turning up the thermostat to save on energy.
Aquino’s statement came following the Department of Energy’s announcement that the power reserve in the Luzon grid was back to normal after the issuance of a yellow alert on Tuesday. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) issued the yellow alert when the available reserves became insufficient to the point that any power plant outage will result in blackouts all over Luzon.
The President admitted that the problem with the country’s power plants is their large capacities. If one goes offline, it will have to be compensated for by a standby energy source with the same capacity.
Nevertheless, he said the Malaya power plant has already been dispatched to address the shortage.
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