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| PHOTO BY BERNARD TESTA |
MANILA – The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has expressed alarm that Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla still has not set up the time-bound and transparent consultation that President Aquino has instructed him to do at last week’s SONA to establish policies and plans to address the power crisis.
In a related development, a partylist lawmaker on Monday questioned the forecast of the Department of Energy (DoE) of a looming power crisis that could result in rotating brownouts in Luzon in the summer months next year.
“Power policy is de facto being set by the independent power generation sector and Meralco. They are now taking advantage of the absolute lack of leadership of Petilla as one group is peddling very expensive solar, another trying to lease power barges to the government, and Meralco is shuffling around maintenance schedules to prevent the crisis,” said Louie Corral, TUCP executive director, in a news release.
TUCP appealed to Aquino to convene a multi-agency, multi-sectoral committee to draw up a consensus on what policy we will have on power security and competitive rates.
“Only the president can restore investor and consumer confidence. Petilla preens with confidence but his explanation sounds curiously fraudulent.”
Corral reminded Petilla that the power crisis is not just due to a power deficit but to power rates among the highest in the world.
“Our sky-high power rates have made us regionally uncompetitive in the ASEAN, and now we have all these salesmen of expensive power lobbying on the respective merits of their products,” Corral said.
He empasized that multi-sectoral consensus is key if the people will be made to sacrifice during the crisis.
“We gently remind the DOE secretary that it will be the Filipino taxpayer and the Filipino consumer who will end up footing the bill. If expensive solutions are not backed up by a modicum of government savvy and intervention, we will end precisely where we are now: at the mercy of the independent power producers.”
Is the power crisis real?
Bayan Muna partylist Representative Neri Colmenares said that based on DoE figures as of 2013, the installed capacity for Luzon grid was 12,790 MW and dependable capacity was 11,469 MW. He added that the peak demand for the grid was only 8,700 MW, and Meralco’s share was 6,121 MW.
“So if you deduct dependable capacity from peak demand, there should have been allowance for reserves amounting to 2,700MW. This is more than the 400 MW deficit that (Energy) Secretary (Jericho) Petilla claims. Based on the DoE figures itself, even in a tight supply condition, there should be more than enough supply,” Colmenares said.
“As I see it and based on the DoE data itself power supply is not a problem and there is no need for emergency powers if the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and DOE would get their acts together. The Aquino administration should stop crying wolf and once again try to find an excuse for a power rate hike,” Colmenares added.
Petilla has been pushing Congress to grant President Benigno Aquino III emergency powers to allow him to deal with the looming crisis.
Colmenares said that if the DoE's reference on plant capacities were accurate, then it should have been addressed a long time ago through the Power Development Plan.
“Is it really supply that is a problem or there are other factors that prevent some capacities from being dispatched, like the supposed collusion between power industry players last year? Up till now the ERC has yet to submit their investigation on the matter,” he said.
The lawmaker also noted that one unit of the 650-MW Malaya plant -- 300 MW capacity -- was down.
"When can the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) bring it back to operation so it can contribute to 2015 summer supply?” he said.
- By: Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com
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