Osmeña hesitant to grant Aquino emergency powers, favors cheaper options
MANILA, Philippines—Senator Sergio Osmeña III on Thursday said he was not convinced that President Benigno Aquino III should be given authority to contract additional power plants.
“I’m not amenable to that and I will recommend to the members of the committee that the alternative is much cheaper less risk and better for the country,” Osmeña said after the Senate committee on energy hearing.
During the hearing, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla tried to convince senators that a joint resolution was necessary to address the projected power shortage during the summer of 2015.
But Osmeña said he was not “happy” with the numbers.
“It is too convoluted and we have to explain this to the public. I want to give a chance to the business groups they might come up with beautiful ideas and suggestions,” he said during the hearing.
Petilla argued that the increase would be negligible, especially with the secondary price cap imposed on the Wholesale Electricity Sport Market (WESM).
He said during yellow alert, the “theoretical” maximum increase would be P2 per kilowatt hour but with the secondary cap it could be around P0.20 only.
For his part, Osmeña said the capital expenditure alone for leasing or buying a modular power plant would be P25 to P35 per kilowatt hour.
Sen. Sergio Osmeña III. FILE PHOTO
“So If I will only pay P9 to P14 to ask somebody to run his existing plant na nandyan na, mas maigi yun diba (that’s better right)?” he said.
Asked if he would give in to the request of the President, he said, “My recommendation at this time is to study it some more but if I decide today I would not give it to him.”
He said he preferred the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) which would allow the country to buy excess power from those with private generating sets.
Although the current capacity under the ILP is not enough, he said the program is now gaining ground in the business sector.
During his presentation, Petilla said the country would experience a shortage of about 800 megawatts for a couple of months next year. However, the Department of Energy would only need around 377 megawatts if other options, including the ILP, are factored in.
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