Power for the People Coalition (P4P) is misinformed and has a skewed appreciation of the facts regarding the performance of the Department of Energy (DOE). The issue is compliance as mentioned in the Pre-SONA Forum yesterday. The DOE, under Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, has been coming up with policies to address the power situation.
In 2018, during the pending of the Competitive Selection Process (CSP) before the Supreme Court, Secretary Cusi issued the 2018 CSP policy in order to guide the power industry players on how to procure the power “in the least cost manner”. The Supreme Court later issued its decisions practically telling the power industry players to follow the 2018 Cusi Policy.
To augment the 2018 policy addressing the additional policy required, the following were also issued:
1. 2019 policy for 100% Ancillary Services Contracting
2. 2020 policy for the transparent Grid Operations and Maintenance Program to address the synchronized scheduling of preventive maintenance of the power plants and the transmission network
3. The DOE completed the mechanisms under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, that are aimed at facilitating greater private sector investments in renewables - including the participation of electricity consumers in renewable energy (RE) development, enabling them to produce their own electricity requirements, or to choose RE as their chosen supply. These include the Renewable Portfolio Standards policy, Green Energy Option Program policy, and Enhanced Net-Metering System, among others, which are geared towards achieving a 35% RE share by year 2030.
Also worth mentioning are the reports made by the DOE to the Cabinet Assistance System to address the compliance needed from the power industry players, considering that under Section 46 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the DOE can only recommend the revocation/cancellation of the Franchise to Congress.
Landmark pieces of legislation were likewise signed into law by President Duterte, namely the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS) Law to address the timely processing of energy applications and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act, upon the presentations made by the DOE.
Please refer to the Pre-SONA Virtual Presser conducted yesterday.
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LINK TO THE PRE-SONA VIRTUAL PRESSER: https://www.facebook.com/pcooglobalmedia/videos/1677652305958332
PERTINENT VIDEO TIMECODES:
1st (06:28 - 09-05)
2nd (13:10 to 16:45)
3rd (23:27 - 28:36)
4th (34:30- 40:42)