‘Some people out to make money from Noy emergency powers’

MANILA, Philippines - Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares reacted strongly yesterday to the insistence of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla that President Aquino still needs emergency powers to address a projected electricity shortfall in Luzon next summer.

Colmenares said he could not understand why Petilla would have Aquino spend P12 billion for renting or buying generators from foreign suppliers when the Department of Energy (DOE)’s own data show that there would be enough power supply in 2015.

“They are again trying to fool the people even if their data say that there would be no power crisis. It appears that some people are out to make money from emergency powers at the expense of consumers,” he said.

He said Petilla himself has mentioned one Australian company that is interested in supplying generators should Aquino be given emergency powers.

However, he stressed that both the House energy committee and its Senate counterpart have ruled out the grant of such powers to the President and are now focusing on the interruptible load program (ILP).

The program seeks to encourage private companies to run their own generators during peak demand periods during the summer months of March to June next year, instead of sourcing their supply from the Luzon grid.

That would free up electricity that could be available to household and small users and avert rotating blackouts.

The “Luzon demand-supply outlook” report submitted by the DOE to the House energy committee on Oct. 20 showed that electricity would be sufficient in Luzon for most of the summer, except for the first and second weeks of April when there would be a shortfall of 21 megawatts and 31 MW, respectively.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, which runs the country’s power transmission facilities, estimated that a 21-31 MW deficit would mean a rotating blackout of just an hour a week, or two hours for the two-week deficit period.

Petilla was conspicuously absent during the Oct. 20 hearing.

Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, committee chairman, later told a news conference that the special authority Aquino is seeking to rent or buy generators from foreign suppliers would no longer be granted.

“The rent or buy option to establish additional generating capacity is out. We are now focusing on ILP,” he said. “It’s not us who foreclosed the option to rent or buy generators. It was the DOE who withdrew that option in the hearing.”

He said the private sector has been responding positively to the government’s call for participation in ILP.

He added that as of last count, ILP participants could free up 847 MW to other users by running their own generators.

That amount of power alone would be sufficient to meet the forecast shortfall of 21-31 MW for two weeks in April, plus a desired reserve of 647 MW, Umali pointed out.

“We are trying to enlist more participants so that we can have a larger reserve just in case any plant breaks down,” he stressed.