EDITORIAL - Back to the Dark Ages?

For many months now, experts have been warning that the country could face another power crisis starting this year. Over the weekend a former senator warned that “catastrophic blackouts” could hit Mindanao within five weeks unless the government moves quickly to address the serious power supply deficit.

As the nation learned the hard way two decades ago, the quickest fix to this problem – the deployment of power barges – means high power costs. During that first power crisis, the nation was forced to weigh the cost of the rushed additional capacity against the cost of not doing anything to ease the power shortage. Eight-hour daily blackouts in Metro Manila, with the outages lasting up to 15 hours on truly bad days, pulled down national production and drove away badly needed job-generating investments. Some of the investors never returned, after finding other countries in the region that offered reliable power supply at more affordable costs. The power shortage was so severe the period was called a return to the Dark Ages.

That crisis did not lead to a significant overhaul of the country’s energy sector, despite regular complaints from the business community about the Philippines having the highest electricity cost in the region. Now, two decades after that first energy crisis, another one looms, with several areas in Mindanao currently suffering blackouts of two to four hours daily. Concerns have been raised that the outages could last up to eight hours by April, based on a current deficit of 67 megawatts in the Mindanao grid.

There is a suggestion to turn to power barges again while the government tries to encourage more investments in renewable energy including hydro, geothermal and wind power. It would take some time, however, before any new power projects can come on stream. Also, independent power producers that encountered problems in getting the government to honor its contractual commitments after that first crisis are less enthusiastic in rushing to respond to this new shortage.

Numerous warnings have been issued in the past months about a power crisis that can spread from Mindanao to Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon. Energy officials have no excuse to be caught flat-footed.