Gov’t urged: Ensure power during summer

A lawmaker on Friday urged the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to ensure that generation companies adhere to maintenance schedules to head off power supply disruptions when demand peaks during the dry months.

A member of the Senate Committee on Energy made the call following the issuance of a warning by the National Grid of the Philippines that unplanned plant outages could threaten power supply during the summer months. 

“It is critical that generation companies strictly follow maintenance schedules to ensure the reliability of power supply and prevent costly downtimes,” the solon said. 

Generation companies should conduct regular maintenance to address potential problems and maximize power generation output so possible outages could be prevented. 

“Power outages, especially during the summer, have a widespread impact on families, businesses, and entire communities,” he lamented. 

Raise information, education

The senator suggested the DoE should increase information, education, and communication on energy efficiency and conservation among consumers.

Such campaigns, he added, should focus on reducing overall energy consumption, particularly in high-demand areas like Metro Manila.

Implementation of efficiency and conservation measures is expected to significantly reduce energy consumption, help ensure sufficiency of supply, and generate savings for consumers, according to the legislator.