State-run National Power Corporation (NPC) had the "highest cost savings" so far when it comes to electricity bill among government agencies in a particular year and matched with corresponding decline in kilowatt-hour usage.
The efficiency rating was gauged via the enforcement of the Government Energy Management Program (GEMP), one of the key prescriptions of Republic Act 11285 or the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act.
Based on data released by the Department of Energy (DOE), the cumulative savings posted by NPC topped P17.437 million with equivalent energy savings of 1,945,116.04 kilowatt-hours (kWh) -- although that was reckoned as of 2021, which was still the height of the pandemic year.
Hefty reduction on energy costs last year, in particular, had been posted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue-National Office with cost savings of P12.979 million; while the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) had cost cutback of P8.037 million.
In year 2020, which was marked by toughest lockdowns because of Covid, the gainers had been National Electrification Administration (NEA) with energy cost reduction amounting to P9.413 million; then the Office of the President-Presidential Management Staff with P8.754 million savings.
Since the passage of the EE&C law in 2019, the energy department indicated that aggregate cost savings of all covered government agencies accrued to P205 million; with equivalent 20 million kWh of usage trimmed by the first quarter of 2023 – and that was considered by the DOE as an acceleration from P51 million pre-EE&C Act.
Nevertheless, it is not clear what had been the baseline or metrics applied by the DOE in measuring the energy efficiency rating of each agency – as other energy markets would typically employ kilowatt hour per square meter (kWh/sq m) in tangibly determining the efficient use of energy in offices.
With the initial outcome of the DOE-led call on pursuing energy efficiency and conservation at government offices, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla stated that “small acts and what appears to be minor could indeed drive significant impact, especially when the entire bureaucracy, including the local government units (LGUs) and state universities and colleges (SUCs) would adopt behavioral changes and imbibe energy conservation as a way of life.”
In DOE’s view, it had been the regular conduct of energy audits and spot checks that “increased the awareness of government entities which encouraged them to adopt energy efficiency and conservation by reducing expenditures on fuel and electric utility services.”
The GEMP, in general, is targeting to pare government’s electricity and fuel usage by 10-percent via the employment of strategies that will cut their overall use of such resources – including the use of light emitting diode (LED) lamps, inverter-type air-conditioners and other energy-efficient technologies.
State-managed Philippine National Oil Company-Renewables Corporation, which had its accreditation as energy service company (ESCO), aided the DOE in carrying out the warranted energy audits at the government agencies.