The Department of Energy (DOE) wants to conduct a large information, education and communication (IEC) drive to implement a demand-side management program to ensure energy supply during the summer season.
“We have to give our consumers options on how to manage their use of energy without sacrificing their productivity,” DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.
“The DOE is already conducting an IEC campaign to the top government load users like the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), etc., and energy tips for consumers,” he said.
The agency issued directives to the Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, the Energy Utilization Management Bureau for the IEC due to expected thinner power reserves during the summer.
DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said power reserves are expected to be reduced from April 22 to June 10 because of the high demand for power. In order to mitigate the problem, DOE is securing the completion of power plants in time for the summer months.
The DOE will continue the close coordination among stakeholders to monitor the entire energy supply chain, and will monitor the output of power plants through a performance assessment and audit.
“We are putting the same dedication like what we did when the Malampaya project went offline,” the secretary said. “We will be watching all plants and monitoring to make sure that we have the supply during summer.”
The Malaya Thermal Power Plant (MTPP) has been placed as a back-up generation plant, and the DOE has also prepared the Interruptible Load Program (ILP), which is a way for distribution utilities and electric cooperatives to ask their customers to use their own generator sets to augment power supply capacity when the grid is on red alert.