House to start public hearings on emergency powers

MANILA, Philippines - The House committee on energy will start public hearings on the proposal to grant President Aquino emergency powers when Congress resumes session tomorrow.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the committee, said the House leadership as well as its members are leaning toward authorizing measures that will be the least costly to taxpayers.

Aquino had asked Congress to pass a joint resolution granting him authority to contract additional generating capacity under Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. The law bars the government from engaging in power generation business.

“We will provide the President with all the options available but we will do our best to exhaust the cheaper approaches,” Umali told The STAR. “The emerging consensus is we will exhaust all options before leasing (power barges).”

The lawmaker was referring to the proposal of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla for the government to lease expensive power barges that is expected to cost up to P12 billion for use only during peak hours in the summer months.

The technical working group (TWG) of the panel has been conducting meetings with officials of the Department of Energy (DOE), National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and representatives from business groups as well as owners of large commercial and industrial establishments to determine the actual power shortfall for Luzon and the options that may be taken to fill it.

Among the options being looked at aside from leasing expensive power barges are the interruptible load program (ILP) and the bilateral contracts with generation companies to purchase additional power.

The ILP is a voluntary scheme in which large commercial establishments are cut off from the grid and use their own embedded power or generators, with the government compensating them for the fuel used.

Based on the initial findings of the TWG meetings, Umali said the expected power shortage in Luzon this summer “has gone from bad to manageable” even as he noted that there are still conflicting data from the DOE and NGCP on the actual shortfall.

Petilla has been claiming that the expected power gap will be anywhere between 300 megawatts to 1,200 MW. However, the NGCP is expecting thin reserves but no power shortage.

Umali said while the option of leasing power generators will be likely included in the joint resolution, the language will be crafted in such a way that it will curb possible abuses while at the same time giving flexibility to Aquino.

“Ultimately, having blackouts is not an option. We hope to approve the joint resolution at the end of the month,” he said.