Gatchalian seeks stiffer penalty vs mismanagement of power-related issues

Senator Win Gatchalian wants stiffer penalties imposed against industry players found guilty of mismanaging power-related issues that result in economic losses.

"I propose that, as part of our legislative output, we peg the penalty commensurate with the economic losses experienced by affected areas due to negligence and incompetence," Gatchalian said.

He made the statement at a recent hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Energy regarding the power outage that Western Visayas endured for a few days early in the year, apparently involving the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines' (NGCP) and its failure to properly address the issue at hand.

"It's not worth their while," said Gatchalian, referring to the maximum penalty of P50 million that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) imposes for any violation of the country's grid code.

According to Gatchalian, the NGCP will take issues seriously if stiffer penalties are imposed for violations. He noted that combined economic losses from the power outage incurred by both Iloilo province and Iloilo City have reportedly reached P5.7 billion.

"Clearly, it wasn't in a normal state anymore because there was already a deficiency in power supply when a power plant went down at past 12 noon on January 2. The demand went up, creating an imbalance in the grid. When you have a negative margin, that will definitely disrupt the grid," he said. At the time of the disruption, the region had a deficiency of 55 megawatts or 15% of the total requirement which should have prompted NGCP to take appropriate actions by following the protocol prescribed by the grid code, he added.

The lawmaker said that suitable actions by the NGCP could have prevented a widespread power interruption in the region, a sentiment ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta agreed with because at that particular time when there was already an imbalance in the grid, she said the state of power in the area was already in an emergency or alert state.

Gatchalian also mentioned that NGCP should have conducted manual load droppings to reduce demand which could have helped prevent the massive blackout in Western Visayas.

Panukala ni Gatchalian: Higpitan pa ang parusa laban sa mga isyung may kinalaman sa kuryente

Nais ni Senador Win Gatchalian na magpataw ng mas mabigat na parusa laban sa mga manlalaro ng industriya na mapapatunayang nakagawa ng maling pamamahala sa mga bagay na may kinalaman sa kuryente na nagreresulta sa pagkalugi o economic loss.

"Iminumungkahi ko na, bilang bahagi ng aming legislative output, magpataw ng parusa na katumbas ng pagkalugi sa ekonomiya na nararanasan ng mga apektadong lugar dahil sa kapabayaan at kawalan ng kakayahan," sabi ni Gatchalian.

Ang kanyang pahayag ay kasunod ng isinagawang pagdinig ng Senate Committee on Energy hinggil sa pagkawala ng kuryente na dinanas ng Western Visayas sa loob ng ilang araw sa unang bahagi ng buwan, na kinasasangkutan ng National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) at ang pagkabigo nitong maayos na tugunan ang problema.

"Hindi sulit ang maximum penalty na P50 milyon na ipinapataw ng Energy Regulatory Commission para sa anumang paglabag sa grid code ng bansa," ani Gatchalian.

Ayon kay Gatchalian, seseryosohin ng NGCP ang mga isyu kung mas mabigat na parusa ang ipapataw sa anumang paglabag. Sinabi niya na ang pinagsamang pagkalugi sa ekonomiya mula sa pagkawala ng kuryente na natamo ng parehong lalawigan ng Iloilo at Iloilo City ay umabot na umano sa P5.7 bilyon.

"Malinaw, wala na ito sa normal na estado dahil nagkaroon na ng kakulangan sa suplay ng kuryente nang bumagsak ang isang planta ng kuryente pasado alas-12 ng tanghali noong Enero 2. Tumaas ang demand na lumikha ng imbalance sa grid. Kapag negative margin ka, siguradong masisira ang grid niyan," aniya. Sa mismong oras ng pagkagambala, ang rehiyon ay nagkaroon ng kakulangan sa kuryente na 55 megawatts o 15% ng kabuuang pangangailangan na dapat sana ay nag-udyok na agad sa NGCP na gumawa ng naaangkop na aksyon sa pamamagitan ng pagsunod sa protocol na itinalaga ng grid code, dagdag ng mambabatas.

Sinabi pa ni Gatchalian na kung kumilos na sana agad noon ang NGCP, maaaring hindi na nawalan ng kuryente ang buong isla, na sinang-ayunan naman ni ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta. Ani Dimalanta, noong nagkaroon na ng imbalance sa grid, ang estado ng kuryente noon ay nasa emergency o alert state na sa buong lugar.

Sinabi ni Gatchalian na dapat ay nakapagsagawa na ng manual load droppings ang NGCP upang mabawasan ang demand na maaaring makatulong sa pagpigil sa malawakang blackout sa Western Visayas.