To conserve energy Power Company tells consumers to unplug

CEBU, Philippines - The looming power shortage in the Visayas has prompted the Visayas Electric Company to initiate a campaign to lessen the tendencies of rotational brownouts or worse widespread power outages in its franchise area.

VECO senior vice president and chief operating officer Sebastian Lacson announced, in a press conference yesterday, the company’s “Cebu Unplugged” advocacy that aims to encourage every Cebuano to join a collective effort to cushion the impact of the looming power shortage within the Visayas grid.

 "We want Cebu to be the first to act upon the government's call to conserve energy, in a more concrete way, and do away with 'empty calls' as we move a step further," said Lacson.

The campaign encourages Cebuanos to reduce energy consumption specifically during peak hours, which is from 10am to 6pm.     

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

The Aboitiz-led power distribution firm also calls on the public to be aware of “ghost” power consumption from unused appliances but whose plugs are still attached to the sockets. Television sets and computers on standby mode also consumes power.           

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.

Lacson said this demand is so far the highest experienced by the company in recent years.

The Visayas grid only has a capacity of 1,600 megawatt, about 1,578 megawatt 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 obviously will take a long time, instilling a lifestyle of mindfulness in conserving energy back-up with actual action is the only and the best solution right now.

VECO has lined up several activities to drum up awareness of this campaign, which Lacson described as "social experiment", which include involving the children as energy scouts, in coordination with the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and Girl Scouts of the Philippines,

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

Other activities in relation to building awareness of "Cebu Unplugged," includes: stakeholder talks, LGU tour, University tour, energy forum, recognition of its ILP (interruptible load program), art exhibit.

The campaign will be formally launched on June 4, 2014. Lacson hopes that Cebuanos will be proactive on this move to achieve a greater cause of preventing power outages not only in Cebu, but the entire Visayas region.