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Congress to hold bicameral conference on March 2 to give President Aquino emergency power

Posted on February 24, 2015

By Sammy F. Martin

MANILA, Feb. 24 (PNA) — Both Houses of Congress is set to conduct a bicameral conference on March 2 to give President Benigno Aquino III the needed emergency powers to solve the projected power shortfall this summer, a veteran lawmaker on Tuesday said.

House committee on Energy Chairman and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali said during the weekly forum, Ugnayan sa Batasan, that the bicameral conference would be conducted to reconcile the disagreeing provisions of the Senate and House versions giving President Aquino the authority to establish additional power generating capacity from March to July 2015.

“The Senate is eyeing to pass its version of emergency powers on Wednesday so we set March 2 as our bicameral conference for the resolution,” Umali told House reporters.

Umali, who is also the co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), assured the public that there will be no passed on to consumers in using the interruptible load program (ILP).

“The intent is there will be no pass on to consumers, the intention is not to burden the public with additional cost of electricity,” Umali said.

Earlier, Umali said that the government would need at least Php 200 million for the implementation of the ILP. The lower chamber is eyeing to tap Malampaya funds as subsidy.

Moreover, according to Umali some 886 megawatts (MW) have been committed under the ILP.

House Joint Resolution 21, which grants President Aquino emergency powers, wants the government to mainly use ILP in generating additional power capacity.

Based on established protocols, ILP is implemented during a red alert status (minimal power reserve) upon the notice of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and the power utilities informing ILP participants to deload from the grid.

The ILP is a voluntary program whereby businesses such as malls and factories or even big government institutions that have their own generators can be disconnected from the power grid in times of short supply, and can sell any excess power they generate to distributors.

Through the ILP, the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply during the summer season.

Besides the ILP, the resolution said that additional generating capacity shall be sourced from the fast tracking of new committed projects; plants for interconnection and rehabilitation; and adoption and execution of energy efficiency and conservation measures shall be pursued vigorously in both public and private sectors.

Based on the data of the House Committee on Energy, the additional capacity from new committed projects and plants for interconnection and rehabilitation is now at 297MW.

Meanwhile, under the approved HJR 21, the projected power shortfall this year is 782MW.

“In the course of congressional hearings conducted, it was revealed that in the week 14 [April] of 2015, a maximum projected shortfall of 782MW, of which 135 MW is needed to meet the required regulating reserve, and 647 MW is need to meet the required contingency reserve. Corollary, a total of two weeks of red alert and 15 weeks of yellow alert is projected for the critical period,” the resolution said.

Last Sept. 12, 2014, President Aquino, asked Congress for authority to establish additional power generating capacity to ensure the energy requirements of the country during periods of very tight energy supply as a strategic response to the need for specific, focused, and targeted acquisition of additional energy capacities to meet the imminent power shortage in the Luzon grid due to the Malampaya turnaround, increased levels of forced outages of power plants, and delays in the commissioning of committed power projects.

Pursuant to Section 71 of Republic Act No. 9136, also known as the “Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA),” Congress may, upon the determination by the President of an imminent shortage of the supply of electricity, authorize the President, through a joint resolution, to provide for the establishment of additional generating capacity.

Also, under the resolution, the government, through the DOE, shall administer and implement the remedial measures under the HJR 21, as well as the subsidy for compensation for the actual energy generated to address the power shortage.

According to the resolution the authority granted to the President shall be valid from effectivity of this Joint Resolution (from March 1, 2015) until July 31, 2015 to cover additional generating capacity required for the period of the critical power shortage.

Also the HJR 21 showed that all relevant laws, rules and regulations including the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) Law, the Biofuels Act, the Clean Air Act, the Philippine Grid Code, the Philippine Distribution Code, and other “environmental and labor laws that may affect the operation and transmission of the contracted generation capacities” will be suspended for the period of March to July 2015.

The resolution also provides that the President shall submit a monthly report to Congress on the efficiency and effectiveness of measures undertaken to implement the Joint Resolution. (PNA)

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