Power supply alert tagged gov’t fiction

DAVAO CITY—The Luzon grid has enough generating plants to produce 12,790 megawatts of electricity of which 11,469 MW is considered dependable.

Peak demand in the grid is 8,700 MW in summer of which main distributor Manila Electric Co. accounts for 6,121 MW.

The militant party-list group Bayan Muna rattled off these figures to dispute claims made by the energy department that Luzon is facing a power crisis that may require emergency powers for President Aquino.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, in an e-mail statement, said the motive driving energy officials into adopting what he said was a scare tactic was far from just concern over supply.

“The power cartel and the DOE (Department of Energy) might just be colluding to hike power rates,” Colmenares said.

Figures that Bayan Muna got from the DOE would belie Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla’s estimates on power supply, according to Colmenares.

He said simple math would show that energy officials were lying. If you subtract dependable supply, 11,469 MW, from peak demand, 8,700 MW, the result would be a surplus, or reserve supply, of more than 2,000 MW,  Colmenares said.

Petilla had said the Luzon grid’s reserve power supply was thinning and was only 400 MW.

“Based on the DOE figures themselves, even in a tight supply condition, there should be more than enough supply,” said Colmenares, the House senior deputy minority leader. Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao