The energy sector needs a serious upgrade if it is expected to help the Philippines become resilient to disasters, recover from the pandemic, and take the country to a new level of growth and digital transformation, a consumer advocacy group said in a statement.
“Breakdowns of power grids are not merely an inconvenience,” said Orlando Oxales, convenor of CitizenWatch Philippines said. “These are economically devastating to all individual and enterprise consumers.”
Oxales cited how the aftermath of Typhoon Odette in December highlighted the sector’s vulnerability, when power and telecommunication services broke down and struggled to restore services.
“Predictably, recovery and relief operations were seriously hampered as electricity-powered operations ceased to function further aggravated by the badly damaged transportation infrastructure,” he said.
The problems hounding the energy sector are not limited to post-disaster operations, Oxales said. “A primary issue is the high cost of electricity in the Philippines, deemed one of the highest in Southeast Asia.” The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, in a March 2019 report, said costs here hovered at around P10 per kilowatt hour, driven by excessive reliance on imported coal and diesel.
“Power rates vary across the country,” said Oxales. “Electricity rates in the regions serviced by cooperatives are substantially higher than rates in the National Capital Region.”
It’s an economic disadvantage that needs to be addressed by the government, he said, through long-term solutions in tandem with industry players including power cooperatives.
Another problem weighing down the power sector is the lack of access of some areas to electricity.
In December 2020, the National Electrification administration reported that around 12,467 sitios across the country still have no electricity. The following month, the Department of Energy said there remained 1.62 million households across the country without access to power.
The group’s Co-convenor, Atty Tim Abejo for his part said, “Recovery from this crisis and sustaining economic growth depends on how fast the power and energy sector will be able to meet the growing demand for stable and affordable electricity.”
“Odette is a punishing reminder of the consequences of neglecting the hard lessons of the series of disasters that have befallen us,” said Abejo.
“The government, specifically our energy regulators, should institute enabling policies for power industry players, especially the electric cooperatives in the regions, to develop their networks to be disaster resilient and have the readiness to quickly restore services.”
More needs to be done to accelerate build more baseload power plants and develop indigenous sources of energy to move our power situation from borderline deficiency to surplus.
“Energy resilience is more than minimizing power outages, it is a matter of national security,” Abejo said.
