The Department of Energy (DOE) said it would recommend to Congress to push policy reforms in the energy sector to ensure continuous supply of electricity in the country.

In a press conference on Friday, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said they would support the call of lawmakers and local officials of Panay Island for a legislative investigation into the latest power interruption incident and the review of the franchise granted to National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to ensure effective and efficient operation.

Lotilla said the DOE will recommend to Congress to review the separation and transfer of the systems operation function from NGCP and focus on the transmission network provider function.

The energy department will also push for the review of the authority of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to impose administrative penalties on the transmission concessionaire of PhP2-million per day of violation or non-compliance with regulatory rules, or one percent of the cost of the delayed project based on the ERC-approved project cost, whichever is higher; and the review of special tax privilege of NGCP to pay only a three percent franchise tax in lieu of all other national and local taxes.

The address power outages, Lotilla reiterated the DOE is committed to assist and facilitate the completion of long-delayed and new transmission projects for the benefit of the people.

He said the DOE will continue working with the NGCP to ensure the completion of the Panay-Negros-Cebu backbone project, the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project, and all other projects including the Hermosa-San Jose transmission line in Luzon originally for completion in May 2018.

Lotilla said the ERC will get to the root cause of the tripping of the six power plants, and conduct a technical analysis of the Panay grid in order that necessary grid enhancements are carried out.

The energy department will also review the scheduled plant maintenance shutdown of all plants to widen the margin for regulation and contingency.

“We wish to assure the public that the government will consider and take all other steps necessary to ensure that the problems encountered are avoided in Panay and elsewhere in the country,” Lotilla said. *PND*