Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday criticized the energy industry for its failure to resolve the power supply shortages in the country.

Hontiveros expressed deep disappointment over the “continued failure” to solve the escalating energy issues, especially during this summer.

The senator challenged the Department of Energy (DoE), the Energy Regulatory Commission, and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to demonstrate the foresight and competence needed to address the power supply shortages nationwide.

Hontiveros stressed these agencies are primarily mandated to ensure the adequacy of the power supply and reliability of the energy system.

Vigilance urged

“DoE’s mandate demands foresight and competence to ensure the adequacy of current and future power supply while the NGCP secures the whole system from disturbances, including unplanned and forced outages. We should be proactive,” she said.

She asserted that the energy sector “cannot go on giving people nothing. They should act.”

Hontiveros recommended that the DoE re-adopt a “proven industry-standard method” that had been in use before the Electric Power Industry Reform Act was enacted.

“Energy experts I have spoken with say the DoE is so much better off using computations through loss of load probability (LOLP), and it is something they are already familiar with.

According to Hontiveros, the LOLP has a distinct advantage when it comes to forecasting power supply availability.