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PRESS STATEMENT 2021-010
March 12, 2021
CONSUMER GROUP WARNS NO POWER OUTAGES DURING PEAK QUARTER
In a letter to Director Mario C. Marasigan of the Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, of the Department of Energy (DOE), Consumer advocacy group Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) wrote and said the group “is calling for the urgent need to release the 2021 Power Supply, Demand and Reserves Program to inform all power plants, transmission company, distribution utilities and consumers “, and for all stakeholders to prepare and take appropriate action and that no stakeholders shall take advantage of the power forecast data. The letter was copied to NGCP, ERC and the Spot Market Operator.
LKI said “The peak quarter or summer season is on us. This summer, all types of consumers will use more electricity compared to last year. All consumers should be on guard on prices as well as consumption behavior. And it has already been a year with community quarantine, so the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines or NGCP should have uptodate data already to make new forecasts for this summer.”
LKI President Atty. Vic Dimagiba pointed out “The Grid Operating and Maintenance Program or GOMP is the 3-year schedule of planned outages of power generating plants as well as transmission facilities, to ensure energy security in the country, accountability and transparency and reliable operation.” The GOMP is submitted annually. It is now required to be posted in the websites of NGCP. ERC, PEMC and DOE.
Dimagiba explained “In this regard, the Department of Energy issued Department Circular 2020-02-0004 captioned Providing Guidelines on the Planned Outages of Power Plants and Transmission Facilities and the Public Posting of the Grid Operating and Maintenance Program. The copy of the Circular can be accessed at www.doe.gov.ph.”
LKI continued “Very important and mandatory, there shall be no scheduled maintenance during the peak quarters, i.e. April, May, June, except hydroelectric plants. We noted that the current GOMP covers the period 2020-2022. The 2021 Weekly Demand, Supply and Reserve Profile which was prepared in October 2019 is obsolete as they were pre- pandemic 2020 data. The GOMP can be accessed at https://ngcp.ph/doe.”
Dimagiba concluded and reasoned that “As consumers, we have two (2) concerns. One is on prices. Low level of reserves are typically accompanied by spikes in the spot market prices. The other is supply concern. Consumers may have some form of restraint in consumption and practice conservation.
Moreover, this is the GOMP data that DOE must publicize and should warn power plants not to take advantage of the situation. The DOE should publicize the updated 2021 Weekly Demand, Supply and Reserve Profile as peak quarter is here now, as well as the 3 –year GOMP from 20212023. That is why we are calling for the appropriate action to be taken as soon as possible.”