The Negros Oriental 2 Electric Cooperative held a seminar on energy efficiency and conservation that aimed to provide information in energy saving knowledge, attitude and practices in the use of electricity among the electric consumers in Negros Oriental.
NORECO2 General Manager Ephraim Taclob said among the topics tackled were about liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) use and safety, the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers, the Philippine Energy Efficiency project (PEEP), and the Department of Energy’s program and services.
The Department of Energy, in the same forum, presented energy saving tips to participants with the use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which consumes far less electricity than the traditional incandescent bulbs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the environment.
Meanwhile, national officials from the Department of Energy and the Development Academy of the Philippines also tackled the topic on power outages and oil price hike in a two-day National Training-Workshop on Energy Efficiency and Conservation starting April 13.
Managing Director Regina Fernandez of DAP said there is a need to further strengthen efforts towards energy efficiency and conservation as commercial, industrial and transport sectors continue to burn fossil fuel that adds to the problem of climate change.
Fernandez said as part of the advocacy campaign, the workshop aimed to introduce the concept of energy management and measures on energy efficiency and conservation, and discussed how to conduct energy audit, efficient air conditioning and lighting systems, and on fuel and motor efficiency.
The drive to conserve energy came about with the expected favorable decision of the Energy Regulatory Commission on the request of Green Core Geothermal, Inc., for provisional authority to collect P5.03 per kilowatt hour from Noreco 2.
This was reportedly the rate stipulated in the contract between GGCI and Noreco 2 for the base load here in Dumaguete.
Noreco 2 signed a contract with Green Core effective Dec. 25 last year to buy 25 megawatts of power at P5.03 centavos per kilowatthour as base load for Dumaguete and the other 16 megawatts from Kepco in Cebu.
ERC Commissioner Jose Reyes presided over the hearing attached by stakeholders, top officials of GreenCore, and the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The results will be presented to the ERC for action.
The contracted price is P5.03 per kilowatt hour, and the Cooperative will get a 3.2 percent prompt payment discount if it pays Greencore within five days, finance officer Dionefred Macahig said.
From January to March this year, the Cooperative has promptly paid Greencore an average of P62 million per month, earning a discount between P2 million to P2.5 million.
Macahig said half of the discount will go back to the end-users in terms of lowering the generation costs. (PIA and PNA/JG)