House Committee on Energy takes back EE&C bill, asks PE2 for comments on new bill
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Quezon City, 7 August 2018 – The Committee on Energy (COE) of the House of Representatives officially received from the Committee on Ways and Means (CWM) the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) bill on 3 August 2018, following a formal request to regain jurisdiction on the pending bill for the purpose of consolidating House Bill No. 6642 by Rep. Luis Raymund "LRay" Villafuerte, Jr. into the Substitute EE&C Bill. Earlier today, COE Chairman Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco issued a letter to Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) president Alexander Ablaza, requesting PE2 for comments on HB 6642 and the Substitute EE&C Bill, and for PE2 to manifest its position as a resource person during the special COE meeting scheduled for 13 August 2018.
The COE consolidated 8 house bills and approved the Substitute EE&C Bill on 14 August 2017, and transmitted on 15 August 2017 the measure to CWM for their review of the incentive provisions, and to the Committee on Appropriations for bill provisions relating to new government budgets. On 6 November 2017, Rep. Villafuerte files the 9th EE&C measure as HB 6642. On 7 February 2018, the Committee on Appropriations approves the EE&C Bill with minor revisions. On 13 March 2018, the CWM received PE2’s position on the urgency of including fiscal incentives in the measure, but deferred deliberations on the fiscal incentives section of the bill until after it would have received a position from the Department of Finance.
PE2 has confirmed its attendance in the COE meeting on 13 August 2018 to present its comments. Ablaza said, "Especially because HB 6642 introduces no major revisions to the measure, the Alliance remains optimistic that COE will be able to quickly approve a consolidated EE&C bill and return the measure to CWM for deliberations on fiscal incentives."
