Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday called on the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to ensure that there would be no power interruptions during the May 2022 election period so keep the integrity and credibility of the elections intact.
Hontiveros pointed out that failure to ensure uninterrupted power supply would compromise the integrity of the country’s elections.
“Kailangang matiyak na tuluy-tuloy ang suplay ng kuryente sa bansa ngayong darating na halalan (We need to ensure that there would be a continuous power supply in the country this coming elections),” Hontiveros said in a statement.
“Paano tayo makakatiyak na may kuryente at hindi maantala ang schedule ng pagboto ng ating mga kababayan (How can we make sure that we will have stable electricity and the voting schedule would not be derailed)?” she pointed out.
The senator made the call after the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) forecast that the Luzon grid would be on a red alert status anytime in April to June.
Hontiveros reminded the Department of Energy (DOE) of its assurance that there would be an adequate and reliable supply of electricity before, during and after May 9, 2022.
She said the energy players must have already identified safety measures so that the red alert status last May and June 2021 due to a thinning power supply and the unplanned shutdown of several power plants will not happen again.
“Unstable power supply can pushed back voting time and can delay the transmisison of voting results from the polling precincts to the servers,” Hontiveros said.
During the previous Senate hearings, she noted industry players and the DOE itself had already identified solutions to address the concerns, such as firm ancillary services contracts on the part of the NGCP and the prevention of unplanned maintenance shutdown on the part of the generation companies.
“There should be strict coordination and team work between the DOE, the ERC and other sectors in the power industry to resolve this perennial problem,” she stressed.