State firms to fill power gap

Manila Standard Today
By Maricel Cruz | Nov. 14, 2014 at 12:01am

A senior member of the Minority Bloc in the House of Representatives said consumers need not worry so much about the power supply shortfall in the summer of 2015 as large government-owned and controlled corporations are expected to run their standby generators in the event that the power problem occurs.

Citing Commission on Audit records, House deputy minority leader and LPG-MA party-list Rep. Arnel Ty said there are 81 GOCCs, though some of them may have loads of less than one MW.

“Assuming they have backup generators, we are counting on GOCCs with loads of more than one megawatt (MW) to join the Interruptible Load Program (ILP),” said Ty, a member of the House committee on energy.

“Of course we expect them to rally around. They are state-held entities. They are supposed to set an example for others, including those in the private sector,” Ty said.

“The best way for them to help is to voluntarily enlist in the ILP,” Ty added.

Ty had appealed to the 263 corporations listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to sign up for the ILP.

The PSE groups some of the Philippines’ largest business concerns with the best corporate social responsibility reputations.

At least seven PSE-listed firms—Ayala Land Inc., Century Properties Group Inc., GMA Network Inc., Megaworld Corp., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Robinsons Land Corp., and SM Prime Holdings Inc.—have already enrolled in the ILP on their own accord.

Once there is high risk that the supply of electricity may fall short of demand between March to July next year, ILP participants will be asked to disconnect from the Luzon power grid and run their own generators.

Ty said the ILP program hopes to guarantee other consumers—smaller businesses and households—adequate electricity despite possible supply deficiencies. source