PE2 asks DOE chief to support EE incentives in pending bills
MALACAÑAN PALACE, MANILA, 28 May 2018 –Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) president Alexander Ablaza met with Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi of the Department of Energy (DOE) during the signing ceremony of the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2018 held here earlier today, specifically to seek DOE’s support for PE2’s call to preserve “TRAIN-friendly” fiscal incentives in pending House bills on energy efficiency and conservation and on Package 2 of the tax reform, acceleration and inclusion program (TRAIN-2) of the Philippine Government.
In an official request for a follow-up meeting with Sec. Cusi, PE2 cited the need for the energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) law to be passed soonest with adequate incentives, so that EE&C can effectively decelerate the inflationary and market-induced rises in energy prices.
Ablaza said, "We strongly entertain the emerging theory that the Philippines may be the only energy market in the world with incentives for renewable energy but with no mainstreamed incentives for EE&C. We are also the only ASEAN nation without a mandatory EE&C policy framework and incentive structure after Batas Pambansa no. 73 lapsed in the mid-1980s."
In PE2's latest message to the DOE chief, the Alliance attached copies of PE2's position letter to the House Committee on Ways & Means, the Department of Finance (DOF) and the TRAIN-2 bill authors.
PE2 sought DOE's help in preserving "TRAIN-friendly" fiscal incentives in the EE&C bill to mobilize two-thirds of P 12 trillion of capital requirements for energy efficiency projects as third-party investments (e.g. ESCO contracts, BOT, PPP, etc.) for the country to meet DOE's 2040 EE&C roadmap targets. Otherwise, only 34% of the target savings will be achieved through the business-as-usual self-financed and debt-financed modalities.
