The Department of Energy (DOE) has stressed that it wants "compliance" from power plants, distribution utilities (DUs), and other industry players when it comes to the rules it is implementing amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella hammered home this point even as the Luzon grid tried to make do with dangerously low to practically non-existent power reserves for the past few days. This has resulted in rotational brownouts in Luzon, including Metro Manila.
"So, whether all these were violated or complied with, we are gathering pieces of evidence because ano bang gusto ng Department of Energy? Penalty ba? Hindi, ang gusto natin compliance (What does the Department of Energy want? Penalties? No, we want compliance)," he said during a televised interview Wednesday, June 2.
"Pero kung patuloy ang hindi pag-comply, wala tayong magagawa (But if the non-compliance continues, we have no choice). We have to impose the discipline that is necessary because at the end of the day, consumers are suffering," noted Fuentebella, who is the department's spokesperson.
"Dagdag ito sa parusa na dinadaanan natin sa panahong may COVID nga tayo (This just adds to the burden that we're experiencing during this time of COVID)," he said.
"Dahil nga panahon ng COVID ngayon at kailangan po natin na bantayan iyong refrigeration, iyong pagpapalamig, storage ng ating bakuna eh tinitingnan natin iyong kung nakatutok sila at napuproteksiyunan kung nasaan iyong mga vaccines (And because we're in the time of COVID, we're looking at the DUs if they've been able to protect the vaccines in terms of refrigeration and storage)," he added.
The Luzon grid--operated by private firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP)--has been slipping in and out of "red alert" status since Monday.
This is due to the reduced grid capacity stemming from the outages of several power plants, some of which were expected (e.g. from a scheduled maintenance shutdown), while some weren't (e.g. from a recently discovered damage within the plant).
Fuentebella mentioned some of DOE's key rules and policies when it comes to the generation companies.
"Rule number one: Bawal mag-preventive maintenance dito sa panahon ng April, May at June except for hydropower dahil walang tubig. So, iyong mga hydropower plants puwede kayong mag-maintenance, kayo lang (It's prohibited to have a preventive maintenance during the months of April, May, and June, except for hydropower plants which don't have as much water at this time. So, only hydropower plants are allowed to undergo maintenance)."
There's also the Grid Operating and Maintenance Program (GOMP), he said.
"Isa-submit ninyo lahat sa NGCP ang inyong preventive maintenance schedule at isa-submit ng NGCP sa sa October 31 iyong grid operating maintenance na schedule ng mga planta...kapag hindi na-submit on time, kailangan pa nating aprubahan or i-check kung ito ay compliant sa ating mga rules (All the preventive maintenance schedules will be submitted to the NGCP, which would then submit the plants' grid operating maintenance schedules to the DOE by October 31...failure to submit on time means they must be approved first or checked with the rules for compliance)," he said.
"Pangatlo, nandiyan ba iyong required ancillary services na sinisiguro nating mayroong reserba (Third, there are the ancillary services which ensure reserve power)," Fuentebella further said.
He said the DOE had specified that the buildings that would be used to store COVID-19 jabs must have their own generator sets. This measure is supposed to protect the vaccines from the effects of brownouts.
Fuentebella said the agency is conferring with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to find out if the problems on generation necessitate the filing of criminal charges.
"Puwede bang nagkaroon ng krimen dito sa mga hindi pagsunod sa polisiya ng dahil puwede na naman itong mangyari next year at anong mangyayari next year? Eh, may eleksiyon tayo tapos mayroon pa tayong inaasikasong COVID at marami pang puwedeng maging challenges sa atin (Was there a crime with the non-compliance of DOE's policies? Because this can happen again next year. We will have the elections amid COVID and we might face additional challenges)," he said.
"Para tayo ay laging handa eh ngayon pa lamang eh lahat ng puwede nating makita for a room for improvement ay ina-address na po natin (To ensure readiness, we are now addressing everything that we can improve on)," the DOE official said.