Malacañang is awaiting approval by Congress of the final version of the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) before deciding whether to tap the P170-billion Malampaya Fund or pass on the cost to consumers of the emergency power-supply scheme to avert anticipated rotating brownouts in Luzon this summer.
Asked if the Palace will back the House option to dip into the multibillion-peso royalties from the Palawan gas field to spare consumers from bearing the burden of the estimated P100-million to P200- million ILP funding requirement, Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda indicated that Malacañang will decide after the Senate and the House of Representatives take a final vote on the ILP bill.
The Senate version, on the other hand, would cost consumers a low of P7 to P8 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), in contrast with the P35 per kWh under a Department of Energy (DOE) proposal to lease 300-megawatt (MW) generator sets (gensets) costing P6 billion for two years, or P10 million per MW.
“We will await the consolidated version of the bill where the Executive branch will be properly guided with their legislative wisdom,” Lacierda said.
To avert the projected five-month (March to July) power-supply shortage that could trigger rolling brownouts, the ILP provides a scheme where owners of gensets, including malls, manufacturers and big companies, would be asked to deload from the Luzon grid and instead use their own gensets at certain hours, for which they would be reimbursed for the balance incurred between using the grid and their own supply.
Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy that conducted hearings on the ILP, explained that under this scheme, “up to 1,400 MW may be deloaded for a few peaking hours on certain days.”
He added that the ILP had been tried and implemented in Cebu and Mindanao way back in 2010 after the southern regions were hit with recurrent brownouts due to supply shortage.
According to Osmeña, the ILP bill authorizes President Aquino to “address the projected imbalance of power supply and demand in the Luzon grid, particularly in the months of April and May of this year.”
Osmeña observed that while average electricity demand was projected at 8,700 MW, peak demand on power supply during the hottest summer days in April and May go up to 9,000 MW.
Bicam impasse
The chairman of the House Committee on Energy, meanwhile, said the bicameral committee tackling the special powers for Mr. Aquino to address the projected power shortfall this summer is yet to agree on two important provisions of the joint resolution.
Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro said that during their congressional bicameral conference on Tuesday, members of both houses have expressed different views on the pass-on and time-frame provisions of the joint resolution on emergency powers.
“We still need to agree on two sticky provisions, one is the pass-on provision…the Senate want to pass the additional cost to consumers but the House wants the government to subsidize it,” Umali said. Both chambers, however, would want the government to mainly use the ILP in generating additional power capacity.
Osmeña said the adoption of the ILP scheme would cost consumers P7 to P8 per kWh under the Senate version of the emergency powers.
On the other hand, Umali said the lower chamber is pushing for the no pass-on scheme in using the ILP, as it is eyeing to tap Malampaya funds as subsidy.
“Second, the time frame of the emergency powers, the Senate wants it to be extended until 2016 but the House, we only want the special powers for the President until July [since] as per DOE this crisis will be over in [July]…. There’s no need for an extension,” Umali added.
According to the energy department, the projected power shortfall from March to July is 782 MW.
Under the House Joint Resolution 21, the authority granted to the President shall be valid from the effectivity of this Joint Resolution from March 1 until July 31 to cover additional generating capacity required for the period of the critical power shortage.
Umali also said he is still optimistic that both chambers will reconcile the Senate and House versions of the measure on Monday.
“We will meet again on Monday, most likely we will approve it on Monday,” he said.
By Butch Fernandez & Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz