The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) have forged an agreement for an energy audit and efficiency initiative, wherein the private sector, instead of constantly complaining about the high power cost in the country, should address the problem by cutting down on consumption through efficient use of electricity.

Henry Schumacher, executive vice president of ECCP, said once implemented, locators of economic zones will be able to get up to 20-percent savings in their power costs, thus, making them more competitive.

“This is important for the eco-zone locators because aside from being power intensive, they are also exporters. So once they have become energy efficient, they would be more competitive and they do not have to complain to the government anymore about high power cost,” Schumacher said.

He said the ECCP agrees with Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, who said addressing the power situation in the country is “everybody’s business.”

Schumacher said that by simply cutting down on consumption, companies would already be doing a lot in addressing their energy concerns.

He said the agreement with Peza involves asking the locators to submit themselves to energy audit to identify which areas in their power consumption need to be corrected to improve their energy efficiency.

After that, ECCP member-companies like Schneider and Philips will make recommendations on how the companies can implement their power-saving schemes, beginning with the changes in their lighting and cooling systems.

“The payback period for their investments [to become power efficient] is two to three years. It depends on what they need. We will walk through [their systems] to determine how it can be achieved,” he said.

Schumacher said ECCP technical experts have already submitted to Peza Director General Lilia de Lima some standards that need to be followed in implementing the energy-efficiency campaign.

The program, he said, will be a voluntary action on the part of the locators, and compliance will not be tied to the grant of Peza incentives.

Schumacher said there are about 2,000 companies located in the different public and private economic zones throughout the country.

“We are looking at which economic zone where we will begin. Peza will make the recommendation,” he said.
 

Source: Business Mirror; The Economy; 25 June 2012