|
THE
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the
largest organization of Filipino businessmen, is now
finalizing an energy road map designed to help solve the
country’s energy woes on an immediate to long-term
basis.
Donald
Dee, PCCI chairman emeritus, said the group’s energy
road map is based on a series of consultations and
dialogues with its key stakeholders from the
electronics, exporters, power distributors, SME and
industrial sectors.
“PCCI’s
agenda for energy reform will complement the
government’s initiatives in such a way that vital energy
issues such as cost, supply and alternatives are
highlighted in this road map,”
Dee said.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes called upon
concerned private- and public-sector groups to help in
fashioning “creative solutions” to the energy crisis
highlighted by the high price of oil that recently
peaked at $100 per barrel.
In an
address opening the 2008 Philippine Energy Summit held
at the SMX Convention Center, Reyes emphasized the need
to “significantly reduce our dependence on imported
fossil fuels in the medium and long term while
cushioning the immediate impact of high oil prices on
vulnerable sectors and the citizenry at large.”
A former
chief of staff of the Armed Forces, Reyes compared the
summit with “going on red alert in the military sense.”
Reyes
said confronting the crisis “will require a whole slew
of strategic interventions in the management of energy
supply and demand….We would need the cooperation of all
stakeholders in thinking through the issues and in
fashioning creative solutions.
That is why the Energy Summit has been structured both
as a listening post, where vulnerable sectors can air
their concerns and suggestions, and as a venue for
collaborative action planning.”
The
summit was being convened, he said, “in a positive,
inclusive and solutions-oriented spirit. It is not a
venue for finger-pointing but consensus-building.
Responding to the issues and concerns that have surfaced
in the wake of high oil prices transcends the domain of
any single sector organization. We want everyone to
enter the sessions with an open, collaborative and
holistic frame of mind.”
Among
the immediate to medium-term recommendations in the PCCI
Energy Roadmap are:
1.
Reallocation of accrued VAT collections on petroleum to
the transport sector, to be used as subsidy in light of
the increasing prices of oil;
2.
Establishment of an Automatic Foreign Currency Up/Down
Adjustment Mechanism for Generation, Transco and
Distribution Utility charge applicable to all, including
government-owned power plants and contracted IPPs, the
Transco and DUs.
3.
Removal of all royalties on indigenous fuels through
legislative action with full endorsement of the
Executive department;
4.
Prioritizing the privatization of Tiwi and Macban power
plants to achieve 70 percent soonest with the Office of
the President mandating the PSALM to implement it; and,
5.
Accelerating the privatization of the IPP administration
and management, again with the Office of the President
strictly mandating the PSALM to implement.
“The
efforts of the private sector have gone beyond providing
the usual reaction or response to policies of the
government, but now looking into specific activities
where the private sector deems necessary to achieve
energy sustainability in a more holistic and longterm
approach,” said Edgardo Lacson, PCCI executive vice
president.
The
long-term action agenda prescribed by the PCCI energy
road map include:
1.
Passage of the renewable energy Bill and its immediate
implementation;
2. A
thorough review of the performance-based rate of Transco
by the Energy Regulatory Commission to rectify some of
its demerits that force consumers to pay for future
investments via rate increases.
3. A
massive audit of power generation fuel consumption rate
(more commonly known as heat rate test) for all power
plants owned and operated by PSALM, Napocor and the IPPs,
in order to bring out the true cost of power as basis of
the generation charges since generation charge comprise
over 50 percent of the retail power rate.
“The
urgent implementation of most, if not all, of the above
proposals would earn strong investors’ confidence
because it would reflect how quickly and simply
government leaders would respond to imminent economic
decline until they find the better sustainable solution
or response to the situation,” said Jose Alejandro, PCCI
vice president for energy.
PCCI
will present the road map in a forthcoming private
sector-led energy and power summit and then to President
Arroyo for her concurrence. |
