Improvements needed in PH power supply to cope with economic growth – DOE

MANILA, Philippines – Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla on Tuesday said there was a need to boost the country’s power supply, especially after the economy posted a 7.5 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

“My biggest problem is this: two years ago, DoE (Department of Energy) projected (it’s power supply-demand outlook) based on the corporate demand forecast…based on 6 percent growth rate…Now it’s 7.5 percent,” he said during a Senate hearing on the agency’s 2014 proposed budget.

Petilla said past projections were now “way off” because of the supposed increased demand by the economy.

“The (power) plants that were built two years ago will not be enough for 2015,” he said.

The Secretary explained that it would take three to four years to build a power plant and that investors would decide to build based on the demand forecast.

But Petilla said it was a problem that would persist as in with other countries.

He said the “happiness level” of agencies involved with business and trade “is inversely proportional to the DoE” since higher growth results in higher demand for power.

“We simply have to be conscious with our demand forecast,” he said, although expressing apprehension over the “thin” power supply for Luzon.

Petilla assured senators that they were looking for alternative ways to address the problem.

He said in Mindanao, “the demand is actually higher than the supply. But only until 2015. During the 1^st quarter of 2015, there is a thermal plant that will come online.”

The power outlook was among the data presented by DoE to Senate finance sub-committee chaired by Senator Sergio Osmeña III.

Amid a lengthy discussion on the energy industry, the committee decided to defer the approval of DoE’s proposed P4-billion budget because many senators who wanted to participate in the hearing were not able to attend.

The committee set the next hearing on October 2 at 10 a.m.