THE Department of Energy (DOE) again reminded the public to conserve energy through staging a program dubbed as Power Patrol Seminar on Energy Efficiency and Conservation for Households.
Village officials from 182 villages converged at the Davao City Recreation Center (Almendras Gym) Tuesday, October 4, to learn about appropriate energy consumption.
The project is one of the projects of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program (NEECP) in a bid to educate the community on the proper usage of energy to avoid problems like energy outage that leads to rotational brownouts and oil price hike in Mindanao.
With the campaign, NEECP develop activities and projects that include information, education and communication (IEC) campaign, Standard and Labelling for Household Appliances, Fuel Economy Run, and Government Energy Management Program.
They also conduct Energy Management or Energy Audit for establishments, Recognition Award, Voluntary Agreement Program and Philippine Industrial Energy Efficiency Project.
NCEEP's primary objective is to make energy efficiency and conservation a way of life for every Filipino.
DOE Undersecretary Benito Ranque, one of the keynote speakers during the forum, said the activity is in line with the marching order of President Rodrigo Duterte to save energy and mitigate the power crisis.
"In the previous administration, energy crisis is always present. One of the solutions that DOE cited is by spreading the information about electricity conservation," Ranque said.
Ranque believes that through the activity, household owners will become knowledgeable enough to efficiently use electricity.
"Here in Mindanao, sobra na ang ating supply. We will look into the distribution utility especially sa mga electric cooperatives and let's find out why there are still complaints of brownouts in various places," Ranque said when asked why brownouts still exist in various areas in Mindanao.
Ranque said DOE is reviewing the policies and guidelines then they will talk to stakeholders to make the campaign successful.
"This is not magic because we inherited this problem from the previous administration," Ranque said.
Ranque said that Mindanao has a higher base load because of many power plants that are built in Davao City.
Thus, DOE focuses on how to produce a large supply of energy to avoid shortage in the coming years.
City Engineer's Office (CEO) chief Engineer Joseph Dominic Felizarta, on the other hand, said that the participation of everyone is essential to help alleviate the problem.
"If all of us do our part, we will be able to ensure that there will be enough energy to power Mindanao and the rest of the country in the future and make energy efficiency and conservation a way of life for a great Filipino," Felizarta said.
The forum also targets to cushion the impact of increase in prices of petroleum products and electricity, promote cost avoidance/savings on fuel and electricity without sacrificing productivity, to help protect environment and to keep ensure security for the country.