PH to lose P3B per hour to Luzon brownouts — Gatchalian

An Internet cafe attendant sits idly amid a brownout. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the country could lose P3.3 billion in economic activity if a Luzon-wide brownout persists. INQUIRER FILE

Senator  Sherwin Gatchalian  is urging the Duterte administration to immediately address the country’s unstable power situation, warning that a Luzon-wide power outage could cost the country P3.3 billion in economic productivity per hour.

Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on  energy, made  the  call Wednesday following the  recurring  power supply problems  on the Luzon grid since last week.

“Widespread power outages across Luzon would bring national economic productivity to a standstill. The Duterte administration must look into immediately expanding the power supply by tapping new energy resources,” he said in a statement.

READ: Luzon power supply dips, ‘yellow alert’ up

The  senator said the estimated P 3.3 billion   losses  were  computed from the  official 2016 first quarter gross domestic product (GDP)  statistics released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier this year. These statistics, he said,   include  potential losses from industries which rely primarily on grid power, including manufacturing, retail, trade, and the services sector.

Sectors which usually have the expanded capacity to  rely on self-generated power, including agriculture,  quarrying, and construction, however, were not included in the figure, he said.

As chair of the energy committee,  Gatchalian promised to  prioritize measures that  would   stabilize Philippine energy supply.

He also promised to work with Department of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi “to create an integrated policy and legal framework which would facilitate the speedy addition of new resources to the Philippines’s energy mix.”

“We need to redouble our efforts to explore and exploit new indigenous energy resources, such as the abundant natural gas reserve in Reed Bank. Continued economic growth will depend on ensuring that our domestic industries have access to cheap and reliable electricity,” said the senator.

READ: Duterte: UN stand vs coal ‘hypocritical’

Gatchalian  said he would also push for the immediate implementation of  viable strategies to bring electricity prices down.

“Electricity is an integral part of contemporary Filipino life. Making reliable electricity more affordable will improve the lives of millions of Filipinos. We must work towards easing the burdens of our countrymen and countrywomen,”  he said.

The senator likewise affirmed his commitment to improve the functionality of the Wholesale Electric Spot Market (WESM), explaining that the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) and the WESM possess the tools to closely monitor trends and market fluctuations in the energy generation sector for public benefit.

“PEMC and WESM can provide us with the  information necessary  to detect collusion and other forms of non-competitive behavior in the market. Their information can prove instrumental in protecting the interests of Filipino consumers,” he said.