Senators to explore all options on Noy powers

MANILA, Philippines - To help avert an impending energy crisis, senators will explore all options available and not rush into granting President Aquino emergency powers, Senate President Franklin Drilon said yesterday.

“That is P6 billion so we cannot rush this because it involves a huge amount of money,” Drilon said, referring to the cost of dealing with a potential electricity crisis in 2015 through presidential emergency powers.

Drilon said the Senate, through the committee on energy, would try various options including tapping big business to supply part of the country’s power requirements.

These include requiring establishments like malls to use generator sets or for plants operated by the private sector to increase their production.

The rehabilitation of one of the two Malaya geothermal plant facilities in Rizal will also be explored as this would be able to generate a sizable amount of power.

“We have a lot of options that we can explore before we can declare the need for emergency powers and P6 billion to contract 300 megawatts. We are talking about the taxpayers’ money here so we cannot finish this by the end of the month,” Drilon said.

Energy committee chairman Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said his panel will study the request of the President for a joint resolution to authorize him to contract additional generating capacity to “make sure that the people get the best deal under the circumstances.”

Osmeña said that he has talked to Makati Business Club chairman Ramon del Rosario Jr., who refuted the claim of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla that the private sector was not responding to calls for help.

Quoting Del Rosario, Osmeña said that the big business leaders will sit down and discuss among themselves how much power they would be able to make available to the government.

Osmeña said Del Rosario made an estimate of 400 megawatts and that when the senator asked if business groups could raise it to 600 MW, he was told it was not possible.

“With that I think we won’t have to spend too much money. We would just have to subsidize them because operating gensets (generator sets) is very expensive,” Osmeña said.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, for her part, said she was in favor of granting the President emergency powers if it would be the only way to prevent blackouts next year.

Santiago said the President should be given the presumption of good faith because unlike his predecessors, he would be very careful about using emergency powers.

She said it was unlikely that the President would replicate the “egregious Ramos example” of giving independent power producers a take-or-pay guarantee, referring to the administration of former President Fidel Ramos.

“I believe President Aquino is not as like-minded as his past predecessor,” she said.

Santiago said the looming power shortage was the fault of Congress, which failed or refused to use its power to address the problem. “It’s just a lack of foresight,” Santiago said.

No abuse

At Malacañang, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda assured the public that the emergency powers President Aquino is seeking would not be abused or used for justifying “onerous” deals like what happened during the Ramos administration.

“That ‘take-or-pay’ was really onerous,” he said in Filipino.

Lacierda said Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla would be making necessary representations with the Senate and the House of Representatives regarding the matter.

“That is a concern for us. Of course, we will make sure that the Senate and the House will study that thoroughly,” Lacierda said. “As to the details, I am not familiar. Let’s wait for Secretary Petilla to explore and explain to both houses.”

He reiterated that the President was very specific about limiting his proposed emergency powers to addressing a possible electricity shortage in 2015.

He said there are power plants “that will come on stream by 2015 and 2016,” meaning the energy situation shall have been stable by then.

“The powers invoked here are based on Section 71 of the EPIRA, and the provisions are very clear, and it is limited only during that period of time where we will anticipate – or we anticipate a possible shortage come 2015,” he added.

“Our concern here is really during the summer months of 2015. So beyond that, we’ll have all those baseload capacities,” he said. “By which time, we will have sufficient energy to attend to the needs of our business or commercial activities.”

Asked about such emergency powers’ impact on consumers’ electricity bills, Lacierda said Aquino was only requesting for such and that it’s Petilla who could provide details.

“That will have to be discussed by the Department of Energy with both the House and the Senate. So let’s wait until Secretary Petilla will give us, or will give, or explore and explain to both Houses the parameters of these emergency powers,” Lacierda said.

P12-B burden

For Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chair of the House energy committee, the additional electricity President Aquino wants to make available for Luzon through emergency powers would cost consumers about P12 billion – even if they do not get to use such added energy.

He told reporters yesterday that the DOE projects that Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon would need at least an additional 300 megawatts during the summer months of 2015.

“The estimate is that every 100 MW would cost P1 billion, so 300 MW would cost P3 billion. The plan is to contract that and the minimum contract period is two years, so P6 billion over two years,” he said.

In his request for emergency powers from Congress, the President did not say how many megawatts he wants added to the Luzon grid.

However, last Sept. 11, at the launch of a power project in Pagbilao, Quezon, Aquino said he wanted Congress to authorize the government to “contract an additional generating capacity t address the 300-megawatt projected deficit and, on top of that, to have sufficient regulating reserved equivalent to four percent of peak demand for another 300 megawatts.”

In the same Pagbilao event, Petilla told reporters that his estimate of the cost involved was $20 million or about P8.8 billion per 100 MW.

Petilla’s figure is significantly higher than Umali’s P1 billion, which the House energy committee chief said came from the DOE.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said the energy secretary should justify the plan to contract additional capacity for P6 billion for two years but the added energy would be used only for three months in the middle of next year. – With Delon Porcalla, Jess Diaz, Evelyn Macairan, Rhodina Villanueva