“This is crucial to economic recovery.”
“This is crucial to economic recovery.”
Policy reforms to ensure the security of power supply security to sustain the country’s push for economic recovery was the locus of discussion in the latest Stratbase ADRi virtual town hall. Stakeholders from industry and consumer groups participated in the discussion.
Stratbase ADRi president Prof. Dindo Manhit opened the forum by calling on government to prioritize the modernization of the country’s electricity supply system. This is crucial, he said, for the revival of the economy.
“Initiatives towards the modernization, efficiency, and reliability of our power supply would foster sustainable and inclusive economic growth for the whole nation, uplifting the lives of millions of Filipinos,” Prof. Manhit said.
In his keynote address, Senate Committee on Energy Chairperson, Sen. Win Gatchalian pointed out that red tape is still the enemy of putting up new power supply. We should undertake aggressive oil and gas exploration to ensure power security, he said.
Showing concern over the precarious power situation and the upcoming national elections, he emphasized the need for sufficient supply of electricity to ensure that votes will be counted properly.
“During election time, we will experience red alerts and brownouts if we do not get the new plants online,” Sen. Gatchalian warned.
Mr. Jose S. Alejandro, Chair of Utilities of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, forwarded an interesting point saying that our economic development will not depend entirely on lower power rates. He cited how Japan and Singapore became economic tigers even with high power rates.
“We must focus on what responds best to industrial needs – we should act and decide with a positive sense of urgency, focus, integrity, unity, and courage,” Alejandro said.
Mr. Ernesto Pantangco, Chairman of the Energy Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines, presented the issue of energy security from the perspective of supply, power generation cost, and demand side management. He noted that Philippine industries cannot compete with ASEAN neighbors because their fuel costs are heavily subsidized and have significant indigenous fuel sources like in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
“The solution, we think, comes not only from trying to increase the supply but also from demand side management – tempering the growth of our energy demand, particularly the peak loads,” Pantangco said.
Mr. Meneleo Carlos, Jr., Chairman Emeritus, Federation of Philippine Industries, likewise emphasized the need for energy conservation measures by reducing energy consumption in every aspect of energy use. He raised the importance of integrating the culture of energy saving in our education program and promoting green energy to replace ageing “dirty” power plants.
Foundation for Economic Freedom Vice Chairman, Mr. Romeo Bernardo for his part said that we fail to realize that with more renewable energy in the system, energy supply becomes increasingly dependent on the weather, which is a challenge.
“Our country will need all forms of energy that we have in our portfolio to meet the needs of our developing country. All of these need to work safely and reliably, while we build more and cleaner energy sources. It is not fossil fuel energy ‘or’ renewable energy. It has to be ‘and’,” Bernardo said.
Mr. Bienvenido “Nonoy” Oplas, Jr., President of Minimal Government Thinkers, presented an alternative point of view said that “whether you’re looking at Asia or Eastern Europe, the trend is that the more you de-carbonize, the more you tinker with “degrowth economics – the more you use fossil fuels the more you deal with dynamic growth economics.”
He related frequent blackouts in Europe to the instability of renewable energy and push away from coal while the Philippines solved the 1991 power crisis with coal power plants. He posits that. “Climate change is true, but it is cyclical and natural meaning it is not man-made.”
Atty. Terry Ridon, Convenor of Infrawatch PH called on national candidates to know energy policies and not bluff their way through the elections and pretend that they are “white knights” for the consumers and the public.
“We would like to see platforms on what senatorial candidates or national candidates would want to do on the VAT on electricity and whether they are open to removing the feed-in tariffs for renewables,” Ridon said.
Atty. Victorio A. Dimagiba, President of Laban Konsyumer, Inc. reiterated their call to junk the feed-in tariff (FIT) policy or repealing the existing Renewable Energy Act no. 9513 or the RE Law to better safeguard the consumers. He appealed for more empathy and compassion and that putting consumers first is key to economic development.
Prof. Louie Montemar, Convenor of Bantay Konsumer, Kuryente, Kalsada called on government to accelerate the pace of technology adoption by developing the necessary regulatory framework, including raising the incentives for both the customer and the supply chain stakeholders.
The common sentiment was that the business sector and consumers must prepare for a double whammy of a thin power supply and increasing power costs. In my opinion, if the Chinese were not allowed to encroach in our gas rich territories in the West Philippines Sea, we would already be developing new energy resources.