Group cites urgent need to raise power capacity

Private sector leaders have urged the Department of Energy to craft policies to “incentivize and discipline” the power industry and ensure that 1,200 megawatts of new generation capacity will be added to the Luzon grid by 2015.

The business leaders have expressed their concern that brownouts may again hit the country in two to three years unless additional investments in power generation are made in the coming months.

In a Power and Energy Forum sponsored by the Federation of Philippine Industries last Wednesday, the business leaders cited the energy policies to be crucial as they identified their concerns that included the high cost of electricity and the need for further reforms in the power industry to ensure competitive pricing.

According to an assessment of the energy market and policy situation done by the University of the Philippines’ National Engineering Center, baseload power plants generating a combined 1,200 MW by 2015 are needed “to achieve both reliability and least-cost power supply.”

Economists said current high electricity costs in the Philippines greatly contributed to the rapid decline of the country’s competitiveness in the world market. Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand are offering power rates as low as 5 to 7 US cents per kilowatt-hour while the Philippines’ rate stands at 23 US cents, they said.