Group hits House for granting PNoy emergency power

MANILA, Philippines - Consumer group People Opposed to unWarranted Electricity Rates (Power) has decried the lower house's approval last night of a joint resolution, granting President Benigno Aquino III emergency powers to address a projected thinning of electricity reserves in the summer of 2015.

"This is like giving the president a bazooka to kill a fly when all that is needed is a fly swatter," Power convenor and former congressman Teddy Casiño said.

"The so-called 'maximum projected shortfall' of 1,004 MW (megawatts), conjured by the Department of Energy (DOE) and adopted by the House, presupposes that power plants in Luzon will suffer forced outages of 712 MW everyday during peak demand periods  and 642 MW everyday in May, which has never happened before. To make that as a basis for giving the President emergency powers is just plain ridiculous," Casiño added.

He said that basing on DOE's original estimates,there is sufficient power supply to meet peak demand.

"What we will be facing is a thinning of reserves, something that can already be addressed by measures like energy efficiency programs and the interruptible load program (ILP) which do not require emergency powers," he said.

Aside from allowing the president to subsidize ILP players, the joint resolution also allows various agencies to disregard regular bidding procedures and enter into negotiated procurement of electrical supplies and equipment. 

It also exempts owners of power plants and other facilities from environmental laws and industry regulations in order to fast track their projects. 

The group is now calling on the Senate to vote against the joint resolution.