State agencies told to temper electricity use

The energy department has asked government agencies to take the lead in implementing energy conservation measures in the light of the ongoing maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya gas fields whose natural gas generates up to 2,700 megawatts of electricity for the Luzon and Visayas grids.

In a statement, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the government was taking the lead and serving as a role model to private companies in achieving energy security.

“Under our Government Energy Management Program (GEMP), the Department of Energy has required 140 government entities to submit their electricity consumption (details) to assess usage,” Cusi said.

As part of GEMP, the DOE has enlisted government agencies with available power generating units that can be enrolled for the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to augment electricity supply capacity when power reserves are thin.

“We are closely monitoring their energy consumption so that we can provide strategies to help them become more energy efficient in their daily operations,” Cusi said.

He said the ILP sought to convince big load customers of distribution utilities and electric cooperatives to register so they can run their stand-by generation sets in times of energy supply deficiency to prevent power outages.

“Based on our GEMP survey, about 100 government buildings have operational gensets with capacity of 85 megawatts of power,” Cusi said.

Other energy efficiency measures that the DOE enjoins government agencies to adhere to include setting the thermostat of air-conditioners to no lower than 25°C; replacing aircon facilities with inverter-type air units, and replacing fluorescent lamps with light-emitting diode (LED) lights.

Aside from seeking the support of government institutions, the DOE asked nearly 70 malls nationwide to set their cooling system’s temperature to 25°C as a way to temper their demand for electricity.

“We, the government, have to be the best examples to our people in managing our energy consumption,” Cusi said.

Earlier, the DOE released a number of appliance-focused energy-saving tips to household consumers which they can adopt as energy efficiency and conservation methods.