Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday, March 30 called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure that the maintenance of natural gas plants is on track and a scheduled shutdown of such plants is not extended.

Gatchalian made the appeal, after the DOE made the announcement and advised consumers in Luzon to practice energy conservation measures to minimize the risk of potential power outages.

Last Friday, the DOE reported that the liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) and Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI), which are owned by energy giants Meralco PowerGen, San Miguel Global Power, and Aboitiz Power, will undergo a shutdown over the weekend.

“We recognize that preventive maintenance is critical to deter unplanned downtime, which adversely affects businesses and inconveniences energy consumers,” said Gatchalian, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy.

“We are hoping that the DOE would be able to ensure that this activity would not cause undue loss of power,” he said.

The senator said the DOE should closely monitor the situation to ensure that preventive maintenance activities are completed on time.

At the same time, Gatchalian echoed the DOE’s call for consumers to practice energy efficiency and conservation.

The lawmaker said this should be a regular habit in order to help shore up the available energy supply and prevent power interruptions.

Moreover, he said, such conservation efforts would also generate savings for consumers.