Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
Amid fresh round of
escalating energy prices, investors and policy advocates of the propounded
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act are batting for the immediate signing of
the propounded law and for it to be feasibly enforced the soonest possible
time.
The legislative piece
will just need one more critical step before it is institutionalized into a
firm government edict – its final approval and signing into law by President
Rodrigo Duterte.
In the final form of
the measure, two major ‘compromise provisions’ had been cast – primarily those
touching on incentives rationalization propounded under the Tax Reform for
Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (TRABAHO), which is the second
tax reform program of the Duterte administration.
At the bicameral level of deliberations on the energy efficiency bill, the
lawmakers opted to cap the income tax holiday (ITH) to four (4) years for
non-pioneering projects; and the measure’s inclusion in the Investment
Priorities Plan (IPP) had also been slashed from 15 years to 10 years.
The committees on
energy of both Houses came up with a reconciled version of the measure – and
the outcome base of that is Senate Bill 1531 principally authored by Senator
Sherwin Gatchalian; which has also integrated paramount provisions of House
Bill 8629 of Representative Lord Allan Velasco.
According to Philippine
Energy Efficiency (PE2) Alliance President Alexander Ablaza, the bicameral
conference committee “agreed to re-anchor the fiscal incentives provision on
existing Executive Order 226,” or the Omnibus Investment Code of 1987.
As noted by Gatchalian,
the passage of the measure is one decisive step for Congress because this will
entail investment-avoidance on additional power capacities, which essentially
could redound to cost reduction on the pockets of consumers.
“The power supply will not come in as a form of physical plants, the power
supply can come in the form of savings,” he explained.
Essentially, as noted
by experts, energy efficiency is a low-hanging fruit or that power supply that
is just there and ready to be reaped as ‘cost savings’ if only consumers would
shift to more energy-efficient way of consumption.
As indicated, a lengthy
part of discussion at the bicameral level had been on the role of local
government units (LGUs) in spurring energy efficiency practice among end-users
and other relevant stakeholders.
When the proposed
legislation is signed into law, there is already a mandate for them to set up
Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EEC) office and to appoint their respective
EEC officer.
Essentially, this will
establish energy efficiency and conservation standards and strategies in local
governance through the creation of local energy efficiency and conservation
plan; as well as the inclusion of guidelines on energy conserving design on
buildings in the issuance of building permits.
The targeted law further mandates the development and maintenance of a National
Energy Efficiency and Conservation database, where relevant information about
energy consumption as well as the application of energy efficient and renewable
energy technologies shall be centrally stored.
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