MANILA -- Voting 149-18, the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading Wednesday the proposed emergency powers for President Benigno Aquino III to address the looming power shortage for the summer months of 2015.
House Joint Resolution 21 was certified urgent by Malacañang last week, allowing it to skirt the three-day interval between the second and third readings. The resolution will be forwarded to the Senate for the chamber's consideration.
Consumers would not pay for the cost for extra power since the resolution provides that the money would be sourced from the proceeds of the operation of the Malampaya natural gas plant off Palawan.
The resolution backs the interruptible load program (ILP), which encourages the private sector to run their own generators during peak hours instead of getting their supply from the Luzon grid.
Some P450 million would be allotted by the government to compensate participants to the ILP.
Additional generating capacity would also be sourced from the fast-tracking of new committed projects; plants for interconnection and rehabilitation; and adoption and execution of energy efficiency and conservation measures will be pursued in both public and private sectors.
During the congressional hearings, it was revealed that there would be a maximum projected shortfall of 1,004 megawatts (MW) by April 2015, of which 600 MW is needed to meet the "required dispatchable reserve, and 404 MW is needed to meet the required contingency reserve."
"Corollary, a total of four weeks of yellow alert is projected for the critical period,” the resolution said.
The authority granted to the President shall be valid from effectivity of the resolution (from March 1, 2015 until July 31, 2015) to cover additional generating capacity required for the period of the critical power shortage unless sooner withdrawn by the President, upon the recommendation of the Joint Congressional Power Commission.
Buhay party-list Representative Lito Atienza scored Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla, saying he should leave the Aquino administration for his belated solution to the supposed power crisis.
“Emergency exit ang dapat sa kanya, hindi ang pagbigay ng emergency powers,” said Atienza.
Atienza also hit Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali, chair of the House committee on energy, for apparently blaming electricity consumers for the impending power shortage.
“Granting emergency powers is not the solution. Kung alam na nilang magkakaroon ng problema next year, they should have acted on it. There are other alternatives to address the problem, like the use of the Malampaya Funds and the ILP," the party-list lawmaker said.
"If our power plants are breaking down, does that not reflect on the persons managing them? Then we should get better and more efficient managers so we can avoid breakdowns like the ones we are facing now,” he added.
The joint resolution empowers the Chief Executive to submit a monthly report to the Senate and the House of Representatives on the exercise of such powers that will last until July next year, unless withdrawn sooner by Congress.
The resolution also shut down Malacañang’s proposal authorizing the government to lease expensive power barges as it was prone to corruption and could cost as much as P12 billion for just a brief period of use.
On September 12, Aquino requested Congress for authority to establish additional power generating capacity in response to the imminent power shortage in the Luzon grid due to the Malampaya turnaround, increased levels of forced outages of power plants, and delays in the commissioning of committed power projects.
Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) empowers the President, through a joint resolution by Congress, to enter into supply contracts once he is able to determine an imminent shortage. (Sunnex)