DoE advises gov’t agencies to save power ahead of polls

THE Department of Energy (DoE) said on Tuesday that it issued an advisory to government agencies to conserve energy due to the tight oil market and ahead of the May elections.

The advisory calls for the mandatory implementation of energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) programs.

“We issued this advisory to highlight the role of (EE&C) in ensuring the sufficiency of petroleum products supply amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said.

The DoE also called on agencies to comply with the guidelines of the Government Energy Management Program (GEMP). GEMP sets a 10% reduction target for government agencies’ power and fuel consumption.

The DoE said more efficient energy use will help ensure the smooth running of the May 9 elections.

In January, the DoE raised the possibility of possible rotating outages on the Luzon grid in the two weeks after the elections.

“According to projections of the DoE-Energy Utilization Management Bureau, the successful implementation of these measures (will help) reduce electricity demand on the Luzon grid by up to 24 megawatts,” it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, an alliance of energy efficiency companies said the government must also accelerate deployment of energy efficiency projects from the private sector.

“It is good that the National Government through DoE believe that energy efficiency and conservation should help mitigate the impacts of rising fuel prices, which affect all end-use sectors directly consuming fuel products, and partially grid and self-use generation of electricity,” Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) President Alexander D. Ablaza said in a Viber message.

He added that “what the country needs right now is to accelerate timelines for energy efficiency deployment.”

“(The government should) kick-start energy service company (ESCO) performance contracting and third-party project investments by reclassifying all EE projects, whether simple, complex or innovative/strategic, as Tier III domestic market activities under the (Strategic Investment Priority Plan) framework,” he said.

In February, the Board of Investments classified strategic energy efficiency (EE) projects as “critical to the structural transformation of the economy,” eligible for the longest income tax holidays on offer. PE2 is calling for the inclusion of non-strategic projects in this category.

PE2 also proposes that authorities “accelerate and aggressively grow GEMP by enabling ESCO performance contracting and third-party project investments in EE projects hosted by government-owned facilities, by removing policy barriers under the Government Procurement and Reform Act, the Build-Operate-Transfer law, and the National Economic and Development Authority’s joint venture guidelines.” — Marielle C. Lucenio