Energy Columns in BusinessWorld

*  BusinessWorld  April 17, 2023. ------------ At the onset, I want to recognize Alfredo J. Non, a former Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Commissioner who made some clarifications in his “Letter to the Editor” last April 13, in response to my column “Low power supply and Meralco distribution cost” last April 3. Thank you for your letter, Sir. Mr. Non insisted on over-billing by Meralco from 2012 to present of around P100+ billion, of which P48 billion has been refunded to customers over the last two years. The refund is good but I am not sure if Mr. Non should get the credit for this because from what I know, the proposal to conduct a true-up of distribution charges came from Meralco itself. Below is a disaggregation of the total charges from August 2011 to July 2018. I chose this period because this is the time that Mr. Non was ERC Commissioner and he had oversight function for Universal Charge in Missionary Electrification (UC-ME) and Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All). U...

*  BusinessWorld  April 3, 2023. ------------- The big power blackouts in the Philippines started in 1990, when total power generation was 26.3 terawatt-hours (TWH; 1 TWH is equal to 1 million megawatts per hour or MWH). It was severe in 1991, with generation down to 25.6 TWH, and in 1992 with 25.9 TWH, resulting in blackouts lasting many hours every day for two years. Things flat lined in 1993 with 26.6 TWH. Fast forward to 2023 or 33 years later, when the threat of blackouts continues. Last week, on March 28, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) warned of power interruptions these hot months. Here are more troubling numbers about power generation in our country. In 1990, while the Philippines was generating 26.3 TWH of power, Vietnam had only 8.7, Malaysia had 23, and Indonesia had 33 TWH. By 2021, or after three decades, the Philippines is generating 108 TWH of power while Malaysia creates 177 TWH, Vietnam 245 TWH (or 2.3 times that of the Philippines), and Ind...

*  BusinessWorld  March 22, 2023.  ----------- The Philippine Electric Power Industry Forum (PEPIF 2023) held this week on March 20 and 21 at the Diamond Hotel — sponsored by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) — was a great success. All the invited speakers came on stage, a few delivered virtual messages, there was a big audience and corporate sponsorships. BusinessWorld , as media partner of PEPIF 2023, came out with a number of stories. See these four reports by Ashley Erika Jose: “Green energy auction 2nd round due in June” (March 20), “Meralco moves to partly replace lost 670 MW,” “DoE has authority to accelerate charging station rollout — senator” (March 21), and “PSALM says qualified bidders for Casecnan now down to seven” (March 22). I attended the two-day conference and among the topics that frequently came up or were mentioned by many speakers was “energy transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy (RE). It was mentioned ...

*  BusinessWorld  March 20, 2023. ----------------- The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) is holding a big conference, the Philippine Electric Power Industry Forum (PEPIF) 2023, with the theme “Partnering to Achieve a Secure and Reliable Supply of Electricity for the Country,” on March 20 and 21 at Diamond Hotel, Manila. It is in partnership with the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). BusinessWorld is a media partner of this important event. Among the important parts of the two days program are the overview of policies and programs of the DoE and ERC, Keynote speeches are by the Senate President Pro Tempore, and the Chairpersons of the Senate and House Committee on Energy. Then the discussions will tackle the challenges and opportunities in the generation sector, the distribution and retail electricity supply, the transmission development program, the privatization program by the Power Sector Assets and Liabi...