PE2 opens new FY with best-attended GMM, builds on momentum of last 5 months

MAKATI CITY, 26 October 2021- A record 96% of the voting members of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) gathered for the special general membership meeting (GMM) to open the Alliance’s fiscal year (FY) 2022. No less than 45 regular member companies and 4 associate member companies participated in the GMM to receive and discuss the PE2 President’s Report and welcome 4 new regular member firms.

In his semi-annual report to the general membership, PE2 president Alexander Ablaza said, “I find our PE2 members’ growing participation in the Alliance’s activities very encouraging. The record attendance of this GMM allows the organization to build on the momentum generated by the flurry of activities since our last GMM in May.”

Ablaza kicked off his report with energy efficiency (EE) market and policy updates on PE2’s support to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) continued work to craft specific guidelines and resolutions for the Inter-Agency Energy Efficiency and Conservation Committee (IAEECC). PE2 contributed review comments and technical inputs to the draft annex of the Government Energy Management Program (GEMP) Guidelines. He also shared the news that all 9 Cabinet Secretaries of DOE, DBM, DOF, DILG, DTI, DOST, DOTr, and NEDA signed IAEECC Resolution No. 2, s. 2021 directing all government entities, including LGUs and foreign service posts, to use energy efficient LED lamps in government buildings and facilities as requirement for compliance with the GEMP.

Ablaza also said that PE2 provided support to DOE’s technical working group (TWG) for Certified Energy Conservation Officer (CECO), Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and Certified Energy Auditor (CEA) competency standards and training regulations. Also, PE2’s new sub-committee for minimum energy performance (MEP) and energy labeling has already convened twice and is charting next steps. He invited PE2 members to visit the new webpage “EE Policies” on the PE2 website which provides a convenient online compendium of policy issuances and guidelines relating to Republic Act 11285 or the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) Act.

The President’s Report likewise updated the members on the latest discussions with the Board of Investments (BOI) and the DOE on BOI’s emerging EE guidelines for fiscal incentives, especially as BOI updates such EE guidelines to fully conform with the Strategic Investment Priorities Plan (SIPP) framework under the Republic Act 11534, otherwise known as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act. PE2 continues to push for the alignment of BOI’s EE guidelines with the approved DOE endorsement guidelines, as well as the reclassification of EE projects as a Tier III economic activity under the CREATE-SIPP framework for domestic market activities.

During the ECCP-PE2 webinar on EE fiscal incentives, the PE2 president explained the 12 key PE2 positions on fiscal incentives from 2016-2021, emphasizing the more recent ones relating to the CREATE-SIPP guidelines. He said that BOI invites PE2 support in providing justifications as the former potentially seeks Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) reclassification of EE projects as Tier III to benefit from longer income tax holiday (ITH) periods.

Ablaza told the body that PE2 has submitted and defended a grant proposal to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) to pursue a PHP 60 million grant allocation to support EE/low-carbon technology deployment in the MSME sector. He explained that the proposal was elevated eventually to the DOST governing council but ultimately faced a policy roadblock which disallowed the use of grant funding for capital equipment assets to be installed in private sector premises. He thanked the three participating energy service companies (ESCOs), EconoServ Solutions International, NextGen Innovations Phils. and Verne Energy Solutions, and the proposal development lead, Climargy, in contributing their valuable time and knowledge to this PE2 grant application process.

On PE2’s GEMP Pilot Energy Monitoring System Project, Ablaza mentioned that Stratcon Power Services Philippines submitted a revised donation proposal to PE2, now incorporating the Hi-Cool Engineering donation for temperature and humidity sensors, and reflecting an adjusted total value of donation breaching the PHP 1 million mark. The PE2 president reported that DOE has already reviewed the draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by and between the DOE, the Philippine National Oil Company and PE2, and that PE2’s legal and project teams have started to review the revised MOA.

Citing PE2’s support to various events, Ablaza congratulated members Daikin Airconditioning Philippines, Concepcion-Carrier Air Conditioning Company and ABB Philippines for their respective EE promotional activities such as EE webinars and the opening of a training center.

The PE2 president also reported that the Alliance participated as a resource entity in various local and international events such as the ASEAN Energy & Utilities Digital Week, Global ESCO Network Webinar on Public ESCO Mechanisms, Climate Week NYC, 2021 International ESCO Webinar, ECCP – PE2 Energy Smart Forum Series and DAP energy webinar for legislative officers.

An open forum followed the President’s report where members agreed on the need to increase stakeholders’ awareness on EE initiatives and policies, a need to develop template terms of reference to assist designated establishments (DEs) in the procurement of energy audit services, and the need to help DEs comply with energy consumption reporting, which in turn would help DOE to perform data analytics and propose specific energy consumption thresholds for the DEs to use as targets. The need for more expertise in the monitoring and management of fuel (non-power) consumption was also raised during the discussions.

Ablaza led the general membership in welcoming the new members to the Alliance, namely, ESE-Tech Industrial Solutions Corporation, First Gen Energy Solutions Corp, Innovative Polymers Pte Ltd, and Pi Energy Inc.

The GMM was preceded by a special meeting of the PE2 Board of Trustees, during which the Board ratified the President's creation of the Sub-committee on Minimum Energy Performance (MEP) and Energy Labeling as a new sub-committee under the PE2 Policy Committee. The Board also received the reports from vice president for internal affairs Ruth Yu-Owen, vice president for external affairs Theresa Acedillo-Lapuz, corporate secretary Atty. Richard Henrick I. Beltran, and treasurer Raymond A. Marquez.

The PE2 officers invited member companies to support the remaining two of five ECCP-PE2 EE webinars under the 2021 Energy Smart Forum Series: Transitioning towards a Green and Efficient Energy Supply Chain (4 November 2021) and Realizing the Opportunities in Energy Efficiency Innovations (16 November 2021).

Vice presidents Owen and Lapuz also called for active member participation and support of PE2’s Energy Efficiency Day 2022 to be held in April to mark the third anniversary of the passage of the EE&C Act, and building on the success of the inaugural EE Day last April.