78% of PE2 members convene to discuss EE market issues
MAKATI CITY, 22 October 2020 – At least 78% of 54 member firms of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) attended today the first general membership meeting (GMM) of PE2’s fiscal year 2021 which opened this month. PE2 noted an improvement over the 70% attendance recorded during the GMM held on 26 May 2020.
PE2 president Alexander Ablaza reported to the general membership on PE2’s energy efficiency policy reform agenda and other PE2 accomplishments and initiatives. Topics included: [a] PE2 Support to the Department of Energy (DOE) in the Development and Approval of the ESCO Certification Guidelines; [b] PE2 Support to DOE in Development of Draft Guidelines for DOE’s Endorsement of energy efficiency (EE) Projects to the Board of Investments (BOI) for Fiscal Incentives; [c] PE2 Support to DOE in Development of the Guidelines for the Energy Conserving Design of Buildings; [d] PE2 Position on EE as Economic Stimulus; [e] PE2 Support to DOE and the Inter-Agency Energy Efficiency and Conservation Committee (IAEECC) for Guidelines Relating to Government Energy Efficiency Projects (GEEPs) and Government Energy Management Program (GEMP); [f] PE2 Partnerships with Foreign-Assisted EE Programs; and, [g] Other PE2 Accomplishments and Initiatives.
During the open forum, member companies took turns to discuss their views on the eligibility of EE&C projects for fiscal incentives. Other topics during the animated discussions included: [a] training for energy specialists and end-user education programs; [b] concessional EE financing especially from government financial institutions (GFI); [c] expanding GFI loanable activities to include EE project preparatory activities such as energy audits and engineering; and, [d] responsive guidelines to enable fiscal incentives for self-financed EE projects.
The Board of Trustees held a special meeting just before the GMM and tackled new policies to declare members with unsettled membership fees as either declared or removed. The board also approved amendments to the by-laws of the Alliance, based on the authority granted to it by majority of the general membership during the previous GMM in May 2020. Also, PE2 proposed a Memorandum of Agreement with ENPAP 4.0 to define a collaborative arrangement to expand recruitment and cross-marketing of activities, and approved financial support to the start-up compliance of the Asia-Pacific ESCO Industry Alliance. All 15 Trustees were present in the board meeting.
Ablaza thanked all members and trustees for the growing support to the Alliance, and to Villaraza & Angangco Law for hosting the virtual meetings.
