As the proposed emergency powers for President Aquino has been losing its appeal, three business groups have set forth recommendations for the creation of a public-private sector steering committee that could jointly address the foreseen power supply shortfalls in 2015 and 2016.

Despite waning support on plans to invoke Section 71 or the ‘power crisis declaration’ under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) though, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla is still not completely giving up on it.

He claimed that his bid for emergency powers is a proactive move of having a contingency measure while the crisis is not yet here, rather than for him to scour for measures when the actual brownouts already descended

Still, majority of the stakeholders are not keen on it, hence, the propounded middle ground is to pursue private-public sector collaboration to the solution path. This proposal was advanced by the Makati Business Club (MBC), European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) and Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP).

“We recommend the establishment of a steering committee composed of government officials and private sector representatives that will guide the implementation and monitoring of current and proposed initiatives to improve the country’s energy situation,” the business organizations have noted.

They emphasized that “the (public-private sector) body will remain in existence until such a time that the shortfall in energy is adequately resolved.”

This proposal has been reiterated to the Department of Energy in a Power Outlook and Interruptible Load Program (ILP) Forum hosted last September 8 by the Makati Business Club. An initial recommendation was made through an earlier letter to Petilla and this same recommendation was also done previously by the energy committee of the Management Association of the Philippines.

On the ILP, the business groups emphasized that the available capacity that may be channeled to the grid could be as much as 1,500MW – but this will only thrive with viable policy support and regulatory frameworks instituted by government.

“With the possible expansion of the ILP, we call on the government to provide the necessary support for this program, particularly in establishing a fair and effective framework in compensating ILP participants of their generating costs,” they stressed.

The business groups have similarly listed at least seven “doable short-term measures” that could potentially shave energy demand by more than 600MW – a level matching the power supply shortfall projected by the energy department.

These shall include replacement of 220,000 old air-conditioning units with more efficient ones (especially those installed in malls and offices); raising aircon temperatures to 22 degrees centigrade; reduction of aircon operating hours by one-hour during peak hours; switching off of aircons and lights when not in use and shift use to LED (light emitting diode) lights; reduction of factories of 10-percent of their load during one of two peak periods; conversion to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking; and use of standby gensets during peak period.

Source: Manila Bulletin, 11 September 2014