EDITORIAL – Energy security

With the country’s biggest establishments promising to use their own generators in the summer of 2015, the energy committee of the House of Representatives no longer sees the need to grant President Aquino special powers to deal with the expected electricity shortfall.

Congressmen said the Department of Energy itself noted there was no need to grant the President special powers to contract additional generating capacity from foreign suppliers without public bidding. The deal would have cost taxpayers an estimated P12 billion. Instead, lawmakers are hoping to get more business establishments on board in using their own generators to prevent blackouts next summer.

Taxpayers can thank the business establishments participating in the so-called interruptible load program. The move, however, is only a stopgap measure in an energy problem that is expected to persist for many more years.

The need to overhaul the country’s energy sector has been obvious since the final months of Corazon Aquino’s presidency were marked by crippling blackouts lasting eight hours daily in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon.

Today her only son also risks bowing out of power as the “King of Darkness” unless he can point to solid projects launched to meet the growing energy demands of Asia’s second fastest growing economy. The meaningful jobs the President hopes to generate for inclusive growth will not materialize unless he can offer investors reliable and affordable electricity.

Philippine power costs are the highest in Asia – a problem that has discouraged manufacturing and investments in other areas. New power plants cannot be completed by 2016, but the President has enough time to lay the groundwork for energy security.