DOE eyes mandatory energy saving measures

By: Kristine Angeli Sabillo - 10 years ago

ENERGY Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Manila, Philippines – With Congress seemingly not keen on approving additional authority for President Benigno Aquino III, the Department of Energy (DOE) is now looking at mandatory energy saving measures.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla on Tuesday said among the measures they were looking at, in addition to contracting additional power, would be requiring businesses and households to lower their energy usage during summer next year.

A concrete example would be to have airconditioning units at a thermostat level of 25 degrees Celsius.

Petilla said this at the sidelines of the Energy Smart Philippines 2014 held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Aquino earlier in September asked Congress to pass a joint resolution giving him authority to contract additional generating capacity in anticipation of the power shortage in the summer of 2015, estimated from 300 megawatts to 800 megawatts.

“Alam mo na-focus lang tayo masyado sa contracting pero there are other options that we are also looking just in case contracting doesn’t happen…Number one is energy savings,” Petilla said.

(We’re too focused on contracting but there are other options we are considering in case contracting does not push through…Number one is energy savings.)

Petilla’s statement came as lawmakers said they were wary of the additional authority which may result in added burden to taxpayers and energy consumers.

Petilla said they asked government agencies to consider the measure in the past. It was voluntary so some followed but other complained.

“If we make it mandatory, especially for energy extensive activities, then perhaps we can also reduce a few megawatts on the demand,” he said.

He said it would only be implemented from March to June 2015, if Congress approves the measure.

“My appeal to the public is look at 25 degrees Celsius (for your aircon’s thermostat),” Petilla said, adding that it’s not as bad as it seems since it is much cooler than the temperature outside during the summer.

Compliance

He admitted, however, that checking compliance would be difficult. He said “heavy” energy consumers would probably be inspected.

This excludes companies already generating their own power and those using renewable energy like solar.

“We will get from Meralco (Manila Electric Co.) and from all ECs (electric cooperatives) ‘yung mga heavy users sa kanila and see if we can ask them to reduce their consumption even just for summer,” Petilla said.

(We will get from Meralco and from all ECs their list of heavy users and if we can ask them to reduce their consumption even just for summer.)

When it comes to households, he said they would most likely appeal to the people.

He pointed out that households did not consume that much energy since the peak hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. are when people are working in their offices.

“But these are just some suggestions that we’ll give to lawmakers,” Petilla said, adding that the issue of penalties woyld also be taken up in Congress.

Contracting

The initial plan was to contract modular power plants but some lawmakers, including Senator Sergio Osmena III, said it was a pricey proposition. Others asked why it was only being proposed now when there were only several months left.

Petilla said that there would be less options as days pass by though there were still other measures such as the energy savings and the Interruptible Load Program (ILP), which allows companies to sell their extra generated power to the grid.

He said they were looking at directly purchasing generating capacity from the ILP instead of going through the Energy Regulatory Board.

“We still have to deal with the intricacies of ILP but it’s still an option,” he said, explaining that even if the contracting pushes through, the ILP will still be needed.

“We are not abandoning anything at this point,” he added despite admitting that the window time set by some suppliers of modular generators was only until September.

Originally posted: 11:12 am | Tuesday, September 30th, 2014