Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The chairperson of the House of Representatives energy committee is still vouching for the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to address the looming power shortage in 2015, and he has the figures to prove it.
Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali, co-chair of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), said the private sector so far has committed 449 megawatts (MW), more than enough to plug in the 300 MW for contracting in resolving the power shortage during the summer next year.
He said the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has committed 204 MW, while the Retail Electricity Suppliers Association committed 245 MW.
“So that is 449 MW of power that we can tap under the ILP. Kung ‘yun lang, baka sobrang sobra na ‘yun eh. 300 MW nga gusto ng Department of Energy eh. Baka ‘yun, sobra sobra na,” Umali said.
He said it’s only a question of how much pass-on costs the consumers would shoulder under the ILP.
Meralco had said the costs of ILP will be P200 million per 100 MW, and that the required 300 MW power will cost only about P600 million
This is a far cry from the P6 billion government wants to source from the Malampaya fund to lease generator sets, among the options to address the power shortage once the President is granted emergency powers, Umali said.
“Our desire is for consumers not to bear the burden of this impending power crisis,” the lawmaker said.
Under the ILP, big industrial and commercial customers who have the ability to produce their own electricity through generating sets should cut off or reduce their supplied electricity, particularly during peak periods of the day, and instead use their own generator sets.
This is to give way for the other customers who may need the power than the commercial users. The businesses are also required to contribute their excess energy reserves.
President Benigno Aquino III has asked Congress to grant him the authority to contract additional capacity precisely to address the looming power shortage during the summer, as granted to him under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).
Epira allows emergency powers to the President “upon the determination by the President of the Philippines of an imminent shortage of the supply of electricity.”
“Congress may authorize, through a joint resolution, the establishment of additional generating capacity under such terms and conditions as it may approve,” Section 71 of the law reads.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla had said the agency is expecting a 600 to 800 MW shortage for Luzon in 2015, and that the President must contract at least 300 MW of the total shortage.
The agency had said the thinning power supply may be due to the looming El Nino phenomenon, the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya power plan, increased or continuing outages of power plants, and the delay in commissioning of committed power projects.
The energy department had told the committee that at least P9 billion will be needed to purchase gensets and P6 billion to rent gensets.
The department had also set the following deadlines for the signing of the contracts in the following options – October 31, 2014 for the purchase and lease, December 19, 2014 for the voluntary ILP, and February 28, 2015 for the mandatory ILP.
Petilla said he was hoping the ILP would contribute as much as 700 MW of the shortage.
He also said the ILP is only voluntary and they could not compel businesses to participate.
Instead of immediately granting Aquino’s request, the leadership in the House of Representatives sought an inquiry in aid of legislation on the need to contract additional power.
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