The Department of Energy (DOE) has secured assurances from Indonesia for a stable coal supply as the government moves to shift its power generation mix and mitigate the impact of the Middle East crisis.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the department is working to increase the share of coal and renewable energy to soften the blow of rising fuel prices and potentially reduce power costs by as much as P2 per kilowatt-hour.
Electricity prices in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) service areas are projected to jump 16 percent due to the ongoing conflict.
“It’s a combination; almost 60 percent is coal and imported also,” Garin said.
“Because of this oil price hike, the prices of diesel and LNG — which is the imported natural gas, liquefied natural gas — all went up,” she said.
Garin said the current dependence on expensive diesel and liquefied natural gas (LNG) poses a significant risk to the domestic economy.
“The effect is the constraint in the budget of each household as well as the constraints in the whole economy,” Garin said.
“It will affect our trade, our economy, even the basic services of the government,” she said.
To address the spike, the DOE is consulting with the Energy Regulatory Commission to implement a temporary shift in the energy mix.
Garin met with the Indonesian ambassador to guarantee fuel security and held talks with generation companies to determine how much coal-fired power plants can increase their output.
While the Philippines is seeking stability from Indonesia, Garin suggested that a massive surge in imports might not be immediate because domestic plants currently maintain available stocks.
“There’s no restriction on our importation of coal from Indonesia as of today,” Garin said.
“Maybe it’s not necessary because they have stock. We also have our own coal with certain limitations on who can use them,” she said.
Beyond coal, the DOE is accelerating renewable energy projects. The department aims to advance 300 megawatts of the 900 megawatts scheduled for late 2026 to be completed as early as next month.
These measures form part of a broader contingency plan to improve self-sufficiency and lower the anticipated rate hikes caused by international instability.
