On account of the rising value of the US dollar versus the local currency and high oil prices in the world market, the Department of Energy (DOE) is re-calculating the rate hikes that will be passed on in the electric bills of consumers when the Malampaya gas production facility will be on preventive maintenance from October 2-20 this year.

DOE Undersecretary Emmanuel P. Juaneza, nevertheless, noted that they are still crunching the numbers as to the tariff hikes that will result from the fuel shift of the gas plants to more expensive diesel or condensate.

“Definitely, the cost impact is there and the strategy is to get all other power plants firing on conventional fuel to be back on-line ...the consideration of cost is certainly on the table,” he said.

The last time the Malampaya gas facility had undergone 20-day maintenance downtime in 2017, the actual cost impact then to customers of Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the biggest power utility, hovered at P1.752 billion.

And to cushion dent on consumers’ pockets because of the rate increases at the time, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) had to mandate staggered adjustments in the electric bills – at P0.2211 per kWh over three months; instead of a one-time pass on of P0.6633 per kWh hike in the bills.

Juaneza acknowledged that this year’s scheduled shutdown of the gas facility would not be happening within favorable timeframe as global oil prices have been surging past US$70 per barrel; while the Philippine peso has been depreciating at over P50 versus the greenback – two factors that will then drive up electricity rates.

The energy official indicated that part of the government’s preparation for the Malampaya shutdown would be mandating the gas plants to shift to liquid fuels; and in the case of the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan plant – it is for this facility to have a reserve of diesel to support its continued operations when Malampaya would not be able to provide fuel for the power facilities.

For the Ilijan plant, Juaneza expounded that there could be limitation on the volume of fuel it can store; hence, the DOE will also need to sort out alternatives in case the two generating blocks of the facility could not fully generate electricity at optimized capacity.

He said other plants running on conventional technologies – like unit 1 of the Dinginin coal-fired power plant, which has 668MW capacity, could plug the gap, as that facility is already expected fully operational by October.

Apart from Ilijan, the other generating facilities that will change its fuel use would include the 1,000MW Santa Rita; 500MW San Lorenzo; 414MW San Gabriel and 97MW Avion gas plants.

“The DOE has looked into getting an alternative way of running those plants, especially with running on fuel other than the natural gas. We’re looking hard on that because the directive of Secretary (Alfonso) Cusi is: we don’t want to lose power supply from any of those generating plants,” the DOE official asserted.