Cusi: Power necessary for progress, prosperity

The energy chief underscored the DOE’s electric power industry roadmap. (Photo By Judgefloro – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA – Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi stressed on Monday the key role that the power industry plays in the economic development of the nation.

Speaking before Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines (SEIPI) 16th CEO Forum and 130th General Membership Meeting held at Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, Cusi highlighted the role of the government and industry players in the power sector.

“Without power, there can be no progress and prosperity. It is indispensable to our economic growth and our nation’s drive towards global competitiveness. Because of this, the energy sector seeks to attain its ultimate goal of energy security to hasten the government’s drive towards industrialization,” Cusi said.

The energy chief underscored the DOE’s electric power industry roadmap, emphasizing three main goals: ensuring quality, reliable, affordable and secure supply of energy; expanding access to electricity and ensuring a transparent and fair playing field in the power industry.

Cusi also vowed that the DOE would pursue the participation of the private sector and utilize new technologies and emerging power supply sources consistent with the power mix policy and the building of resilient energy infrastructure using advanced technology to secure the delivery of power even in times of calamities.

“We will formulate relevant policies and regulations to ensure an attractive business climate. EO30 will do away with the tedious process of permitting and approval prior to the commercial operation of power generation projects,” he said.

Cusi explained that with EO30 fully implemented, the country would be able to meet the required capacity to respond to the growing power demand due to increased economic activities and help minimize the transaction costs and address tax concerns of power companies to make the cost of electricity competitive with neighboring countries.

Cusi also said that the DOE has a number of initiatives to ensure protection of the consumers. First, the implementation of the causers pay policy which is a rewards-and-penalty system where power industry players may be held accountable for forced outages.

The second is enjoining power generating facilities to undertake rehabilitation and upgrading of their power plants for maximum operation to ensure reliability of supply.

Meanwhile, the DOE now conducts daily monitoring of the power situation and regular assessment of the performance of power generation companies to monitor efficiency in their operations.

Through this assessment, the DOE formulates appropriate policies to further improve the efficiency in the operations of these power plants.