DoE orders agencies to ensure continuous power supply after quarantine restrictions renewed

THE DEPARTMENT of Energy (DoE) said it has ordered its oil and electric power bureaus to ensure the unimpeded delivery of power during the reimposition of stricter forms of quarantine on parts of the country.

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi issued the order through a memorandum dated March 23 to the Oil Industry Management Bureau and Electric Power Industry Management Bureau.

“The DoE will ensure continuous power services in the entire country, and not only in areas under GCQ (general community quarantine). We will keep checking if the supplies of electricity and oil are enough so the country’s economy can move forward, despite the coronavirus disease (COVID-19),” Mr. Cusi was quoted as saying.

The department said that Mr. Cusi also appointed Task Force on Energy Resiliency Chairman Alexander S. Lopez as the DoE’s OIC-alternate representative to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved the IATF’s recommendation to keep the National Capital Region and Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal under GCQ with added restrictions between March 22 and April 4, Presidential Spokesperson Herminio L. Roque, Jr. said.

Last month, the DoE said that two of its units are working on providing backup power for COVID-19 vaccine storage and administration facilities.

Energy Undersecretary and Spokesman Felix B. Fuentebella has said that the plan to ensure continuous power for vaccine repositories involved coordination with the grid operator and distribution utilities, while ensuring available back-up power from generators at the facility or supplied by the local government unit. — Angelica Y. Yang