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| File photo: Rep. Velasco with Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte in Davao City |
In the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC) hearing,
which Velasco co-chairs as head of the Committee on Energy in the House of
Representatives, Velasco underscored the need for “fair, clean and credible
elections unblemished by any power outages or brownouts, particularly in
canvassing areas.”
Velasco also emphasized that the problem of power outages
was not just a problem of insufficient supply or power reserves by power
generation companies, as he urged industry players to look into the problems
associated with transmission and distribution.
The chairman of the House energy panel also put to task the
Department of Energy to spearhead a national campaign to encourage energy
conservation and efficiency, as well as provide a conducive environment that
will make it appealing to people to put up solar panels in their homes.
During the JCPC, Velasco said, three crucial steps have been
identified to address the power outages and thinning reserves:
• Scorecard system
for power plants as to their frequency and causes of power outages, which shall
include their compliance to reportorial requirements;
• Standardization of
Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) which shall ensure compliance on provisions of
replacement power in case of outages; and
• Causer’s pay
principle, in which the cause of the increase in electricity as a result of
unplanned, forced outages shall shoulder the increase in electricity prices,
instead of being passed onto the consumers.
At the same time, the joint panel has passed a resolution
approving the amendments to the EPIRA IRR giving direct benefits to communities
hosting power plants, Velasco said.
