Power firm brings energy saving campaign to schools

CEBU, Philippines - Capitalizing on the strength of the youth to bring in productive changes to lifestyle, the Visayan Electric Company will be introducing its “Cebu Unplugged” campaign in various schools.

In an interview with VECO reputation management manager Theresa G. Sederiosa, she said that the company initiated a partnership with the schools to gauge the efficiency of the program among students and school administrators.

The "Cebu Unplugged" campaign launched in the middle of this year, aims to encourage Cebuanos to reduce their energy consumption specifically during peak hours from 10am to 6pm.

Consumers are urged to unplugged high energy consuming appliances at home particularly the ones that have heating and cooling functions, like refrigerator, aircon, flat iron, among others.

The Aboitiz-led power distribution firm called the attention of electric consumers to be more aware of "ghost" consumption, which is generated by unused electric appliances but are still attached to outlets including televisions or computers put on “stand-by” mode.

Electric consumption within the Veco franchise area from Lilo-an to San Fernando increased by five percent at the peak of summer starting May 1, from a demand of only 433 megawatts in the same period of last year to 457 megawatt this month.

According to Sederiosa the company has initially identified 10 to 15 public and private school participants to test the effectivity of the campaign.

For a year, Veco will monitor the consumption performance of each school in terms of percentage reduction. The campaign will culminate with a recognition of the most efficient school after September next year.

"The school with the highest drop year-on-year will get a solar panel," said Sederiosa, adding that the youth, as well as the children are one of the targets for the campaign, as they are the most influential people especially within the family unit.

The severe tightness of power supply in the Visayas has led the power firm to pioneer an aggressive electricity demand reduction campaign to minimize possible rotational brownouts or worse greater power outages in its franchise area.

Next month, Veco will start its community-based educational program of the campaign, targeting the household users to get familiar with the campaign, as well as be re-oriented of the importance of energy saving measures not only to save monthly electric bills, but also to help address future power problems.

The Visayas grid only has a capacity of 1,600 megawatts, about 1,578 megawatts has already been used up by the system shared by the entire Visayas region.

Aside from waiting for new power plants to add up to the existing capacity which will obviously take a longer time, instilling a lifestyle of mindfulness in conserving energy back-up with actual action is the only and the best solution right now.

"We believe that children are very effective agents of change. We want children to be our agents  in this advocacy," said Sederiosa.  (FREEMAN)