Malls, heavy industries may soon get a visit from DOE for energy-efficiency check

MANILA  -Various establishments, such as malls and manufacturing plants, across the country may need to ramp up their energy efficiency and conservation (EEC) efforts after the Department of Energy (DOE) proposed a policy that sought to ensure strict compliance of a corresponding law through facility inspections.

In a draft circular published on Tuesday, the DOE said it would establish an EEC monitoring team under the Energy Utilization Management Bureau to inspect an establishment’s facilities and assess whether its energy management systems complied with Republic Act No. 11285, or the EEC Act of 2019.

Under the law, the DOE is authorized to visit designated establishments to inspect energy-consuming facilities, evaluate energy management systems and procedures, and identify areas for “efficiency improvement.” Designated establishments are those that consume more than 500,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a year, including malls and heavy industries, such as food processing and cement plants.

According to the DOE, the EEC program management and technology promotion division will be tasked with identifying the designated establishments to be inspected in a specific area.

Once identified, the EEC monitoring team will issue a notice of inspection at least five working days before the scheduled visit, as the DOE may need additional documents for the assessment.

“Conservation and efficient utilization of energy are among the major strategies of the government to realize energy self-sufficiency and reduce environmental impacts of energy generation and utilization,” the DOE said in its draft policy.

Once the EEC monitoring team arrives for the inspection, it will verify all the submitted documents and conduct a facility walkthrough with an authorized representative of the establishment.

The proposed policy also issues fines and penalties for prohibited acts, including the failure to submit annual energy consumption reports, forgery of any document related to the inspection and failure to submit to an on-site inspection.

The establishments may face fines of at least P100,000 for the first offense, P500,000 for the second offense, and up to P1 million for the third offense, along with an endorsement to local government units for administrative sanctions.

In May, the DOE announced that the government was able to save P205 million in the first quarter of the year alone due to the implementation of the EEC Act.

This is equivalent to around 20 million kWh of saved electricity, as compared with only a cumulative 5 million kWh saved from 2017 to 2019.