Fast government action urged to avert power crisis

MANILA, Philippines – The biggest organization of businessmen has urged President Arroyo to issue an executive order putting together a private-public Energy Program Commission (EPC) tasked to come out with an action program to solve two big problems in the energy sector – high electricity rates and a looming electric power shortage.

The call was made through a resolution passed by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) handed over to President Arroyo at the conclusion of the 35th Philippine Business Conference (PBC).

In handing over the set of resolutions to the Chief Executive, PCCI president Edgardo Lacson said those resolutions were written after extensive consultations with all industry members and field chapters of PCCI.

The EPC, the resolution outlined, should be tasked to study how to achieve regionally competitive power rates and draw a program to assure the reliability of supply within the shortest possible time.

To be composed of energy experts from the PCCI, Department of Energy, Department of Finance, Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic and Development Authority, the group was to be given 150 days to come out with solutions to the twin problems of expensive electricity and a looming power shortage crisis.

The PCCI, in a similar conference last year, had already warned that power shortages will hit the Visayas this year, will expand to Mindanao next year and hit Luzon in 2011.

Brownouts have actually hit the Visayas, but due to a slowdown in economic growth as an offshoot of the global recession, energy experts have adjusted projections such that power outages may hit Luzon to 2012.

On the other hand, all business organizations in the country, from small industry associations to the federation of foreign chambers, have been pining over the high cost of electricity in the Philippines, only second highest to Japan, in the whole of Asia.

More than any other factor, the high cost of electricity that the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) failed to solve has been blamed as the culprit behind the eroded competitiveness of Philippine goods sold domestically and abroad.

In his own estimate, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said a total of 4,000 megawatts (MW) is needed to be installed in the country between now and 2011 to avert a nationwide power shortage crisis. Luzon will require 3,000 MW of additional generating capacity while the Visayas and Mindanao will need 500 MW each.

While there are new power generating projects in the Visayas and Mindanao, none has yet been started in Luzon. It takes three to five years to build and connect big power plants with at least 300 MW in capacity.

The absence of any project in Luzon has prompted Rep. Mark Cojuangco, in an earlier presentation during the PBC, to propose the commissioning of the mothballed 600-MW nuclear power plant in Limay, Bataan. – Philexport News and Features