PE2 policy panel and member firms join DOE PubCon for ESCO certification guidelines
MAKATI CITY, 29 May 2020 – Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) policy committee members and member representatives actively participated in the Department of Energy (DOE) Public Consultations (PubCon) held virtually earlier today for the Draft Department Circular on Guidelines in the Administration, Classification and Certification of Energy Service Company (ESCO).
PE2 policy committee members in the PubCon included Alexander Ablaza (Climargy), Theresa Acedillo-Lapuz (Hi-Cool), Raymond A. Marquez (EconoServ), Ronaldo R. Torres (MServ), Felix Richard A. Cordova (Edward Marcs), Bienvenido C. Gonzales (BEST), Mark Anthony T. Delumen (Meralco) and Danilo B. Aquillo (Meralco). PE2 member firms were represented by Rodolfo R. Peñalosa (Westco), Ledicia T. Dela Cruz (Geosphere), Thomas KK Teehan (Solrev), Cecile G. Marvilla (MServ), Lester R. Pelaez (MServ), Mycel Lava-Olesco (Engie Services), Nino C. Falamig (CCAC-Alstra), Marlon Romulo U. Domingo (OSP ESCO) and Aiko Dela Vega (UGEP).
The PubCon was kicked off with DOE Energy Utilization Management Bureau Director Patrick T. Aquino sharing the draft Department Circular and DOE’s responses to various stakeholder comments submitted on or before 30 April 2020.
On behalf of PE2, Ablaza raised the following points during the open forum: [a] PE2 proposes limiting ESCO personality to entities registered under the laws of the Philippines (and excluding foreign corporations without registered domestic subsidiaries in the Philippines, and fully reliant on licenses to transact business in the Philippines). PE2 stressed that 100% foreign-owned ESCOs are still able to come in through a registered domestic subsidiary or branch office. PE2 believes that foreign corporations will need fully registered domestic subsidiaries to faithfully deliver its obligations under long-term ESCO performance contracts; and, [b] Annex G should require all entities (including sole proprietorships) to submit business permits and that transitory provisions will be needed to relax the immediate requirement for the employment of 1-2 Certified Energy Auditors (CEA) when CEAs are not yet available in the local human resource market.
Ablaza said that PE2 intends to propose new language requested by DOE for certain sections of the guidelines under a new set of official comments to be served by PE2 in the first week of June 2020.
DOE proposes two tiers of in the ESCO registration system: [a] Registered ESCO refers to an ESCO that meets the minimum of requirements on legal and technical capacity. The validity of the Certificate for Registered ESCO shall be valid for two (2) years; and, [b] Certified ESCO refers to an ESCO which in addition to meeting the requirements of a Registered ESCO also has proven performance or results-based projects savings experience and with proven customer experiences. The validity of the Certificate of Certified ESCO shall be valid for three (3) years.
As of the time of the PubCon, DOE has accepted PE2’s recommendations to prevent non-serious players by raising application fees back to the previous rate of PHP 15,000, and for the technical requirements (now Annex G) be provided. DOE rejected the earlier proposal for peer endorsement by a recognized non-profit ESCO organization.
