DOE: Brownouts to occur even with ILP

Riza Lozada

Rotating brownouts might start hitting the Luzon grid as early as March when electricity demand begins to peak coinciding with the regular maintenance shutdown of several aging power plants, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said.

He acknowledged that brownouts are unavoidable even with adoption of the Interruptible Load Program (ILP), the option chosen to cushion the effects of a looming power shortage.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said the ILP scheme would be triggered only when demand peaks to beyond the capability of the grid to supply electricity.

The Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC), in a proposed dispatch protocol covering private firms participating in the ILP, said the scheme would go into effect when the electricity grid begins to experience brownouts.

The protocol was meant to ensure that end-customers of electricity pay the de-loading compensation fairly, the ERC stated.

Carlo Vega, assistant vice president for regulatory and business development of the Lopez group’s First Gen Corporation, has confirmed that reserve levels are projected to thin out during the months of March, April and July this year.

This might result in rotating brownouts ranging from one-two hours to six or even up to 13 hours a day for two weeks in the months of March, April and July.

“The warning sign is here: we have a real supply problem,” he said.

There is a “huge possibility” of brownouts particularly from March 1 to 14 as demand starts to pick up, Vega said.

He gave assurances that since supply would be rotated in different areas, the longest power outage a particular area could experience would be three hours. Outages would not affect the entire Luzon grid, he said.

The ILP has been identified as the option to cover an impending power shortage this year instead of the proposal to grant President Aquino’s request for emergency powers to sign new contracts allowing the government to lease power generators.

Petilla said the scheme would have a test run in Luzon starting this week through dominant electricity distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

The ERC proposed to implement the dispatch protocol due to speculations that the program would be abused, penalizing consumers who will ultimately shoulder the additional costs.

The ILP has a provision that distribution utilities will recover the amount paid to the ILP participants by passing on this expense to all customers that will be included in the distribution charges paid every month. 
The transmission company will recover the amount paid to the ILP participant by recovering this expense from all customers as part of its ancillary services, the ERC proposed.

As early as last year, the ERC released its proposed rules on ILP in anticipation of tight supply during summer this year.

The ERC proposals included, among other things, requesting the ILP participant in writing or orally to de-load by disconnecting its delivery point that receives electricity from distribution utilities as well as agreeing with the
ILP participant the number of cumulative hours in a month in which it can be requested to de-load.

The proposed ILP, according to the ERC, hopes to address the imminent power shortage, ensure the timely compensation and recovery of allowable expense related to the ILP as well as the transparent and reasonable prices of electric power service in a regime of free and fair competition.

On the part of Malacañang, it gave the DOE the power to focus on alleviating the power shortage this year. Petilla last week said the ILP could not be implemented unless there would be really “brownouts” happening in the Luzon area.

Malacañang, meanwhile, has confirmed that rotating brownouts are in the offing, but these would not be a daily occurrence.

“(Petilla) actually gave the actual hours. There are scheduled shutdowns from what I understand,” Deputy Palace Spokesman Abigail Valte said.

Valte also denied claims of militant groups that the government has allowed power plants to simultaneously shut down, which would result in widespread power outages.

“We cannot allow a simultaneous maintenance shutdown,” she said. “That is why it is very important that we schedule everything.”