With pronouncements from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) that the El Niño phenomenon may not be as worse as earlier predicted, the Department of Energy (DOE) is expecting that strain in the country’s power supply would also be moderated in the weeks ahead of this month to May.

According to Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara, even with the current rise in heat index, the generation capacities of the power plants are still going well and that could spare consumers from unwarranted service interruptions.

While there had been earlier caution of potential yellow alerts or probable insufficiency of power reserves, she noted that the latest update on the power-supply demand is still “okay.”

The energy official similarly stated “we are very happy with the report of PAGASA that El Niño is not going to be as severe as originally expected,” with her emphasizing that temperatures would already start easing by this April or next month.

In particular, she cited that even DOE’s earlier projection of 70% deration (capacity reduction) of the hydropower plants had not come off, hence, that somehow reduced the scale of stress that power supply would have run into.

“Even our hydro which we are expecting before to go down by as much as 70%, they are just down by as much as 60% so it’s not as bad as we thought it should be,” Guevara stressed.

Nevertheless, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla indicated that with PAGASA’s report of upsurge in high temperatures lately, “on our end, we are monitoring those – making sure that we have adequate power supply.”

Department of Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. concurred that occasional rains may already be felt this April or next month from time to time, but not all parts of the country would still be benefiting that soon on these instances of precipitation – especially in the agriculture sector.

“The rainfall distribution will not be the same all over, so there are still provinces that will have drought condition, so the other intervention that the DA (Department of Agriculture) would want to do is cloud seeding just in case there are clouds that are potentially good for rainfall,” he said.

And for the consumers who are out to grumble on soaring electric bills during the summer months, Guevara asserted “remember, the cost of no electricity is P200 to P300 per kilowatt hour, much much more expensive than for the gas or diesel that we need to run if we don’t have enough supply, so it’s a matter of thinking that way.”

She added “you have to pay whatever is needed to be paid so that electricity will always be available - so what we’re saying is: electricity would be available, but the cost will be a little higher because we have to run the more expensive plants when our hydro plants are out. But that’s better than no electricity.”

The energy official further lamented “how come it’s only electricity that people are concentrating on, when actually internet is more expensive than electricity, but nobody complains about internet? If we don’t have electricity, our electric bill will be reduced by the number of days that we don’t have electricity. But if internet is out for five days, you still pay the entire month (of subscription). So our hope is: our countrymen will also think that if you don’t have power, you won’t have internet.”