At least 219 big power users stand to benefit, starting this month, from the Special Package to Enhance Electricity Demand (SPEED), a program that gives discounts to large end-users for energy consumed above the customer’s baseline load.

The SPEED program will be expanded to cover another 437 customers in October, said a report from the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) outlining achievements made against targets set in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The report said beneficiaries could avail themselves of a fixed discount of P0.92 per kilowatthour from the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and P0.80 per kilowatthour from the National Power Corp. (Napocor) for their respective customers from one month up to 24 months.

The SPEED’s program implementors are the Departments of Energy (DOE) and of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The adoption of SPEED is in response to the President’s directive in her Second SONA "to work together to give price incentives to large users so that excess power can be utilized, economic activity can be encouraged, and jobs can be created."

Large power users, usually manufacturing firms, would be able to reduce their electricity costs. Generated savings could be channeled to more benefits for their workers.

Meanwhile, the DOE and the Departments of Finance (DOF) and of Justice (DOJ) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) are working on concrete courses of action stemming from results of recent reviews of state contracts with Independent Power Producers (IPP).

The four agencies hoped to complete their tasks in three months.

On one hand, the DOJ and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) would be formulating an action plan on five IPP contracts with legal and financial issues.

Both agencies would also prepare and file actions against contracting parties and officials responsible for terms unfavorable to government.

On the other hand, the DOE and PSALM would take steps to arrive at an acceptable solution on 22 IPP contracts requiring further study and clarification of financial terms.

Further, the NEDA and the DOJ would enhance terms on two IPP contracts with remedial policy issues and would undertake administrative measures, as necessary.

The PMS report further noted government gains in strengthening of the operations of electric cooperatives (EC) nationwide.

It said the National Electrification Administration (NEA) had met with EC officials last July 25 and August 6.

In the meetings, it was agreed that a "people’s criteria," or the parameters by which ECs would be judged by customers, would be set up. The parameters included efficiency and reliable delivery of power, prompt services, affordability and reasonableness of power rates.

It was also agreed that ECs belonging to categories A+, A and B would submit their performance improvement plans (PIP) while those in categories C, D and E would submit their rehabilitation plans (RP).

Recent reports showed that of the 119 ECs, 30 have submitted their PIPs while 22 gave their RPs.

Besides this, the ECs have continued to carry out Task Force Kapatid whereby they voluntarily assist each other in energizing critical areas.

The government has unveiled a plan to reduce the cost of moving cargoes from Mindanao to Manila and thus bring down the cost of basic goods.

Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Chairman Vitaliano Naņagas presented last Friday a three-stage "Sustainable Logistics Development Program" (SLDP). President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lauded the DBP for its commitment to support the administration’s regional development program.

Naņagas said the SLDP, the first working draft of a comprehensive regional development plan, is expected to drastically reduce the price of basic commodities in line with the government’s poverty alleviation program and the attainment of food sufficiency at the local, regional and national levels.

The DBP chairman informed the President that the state-owned bank will help catalyze private sector participation in the SLDP, which is a basic infrastructure for the efficient movement of basic commodities through the introduction of modern storage handling and transport system under proper quality control management.

The SLDP has three components: the establishment of a grains highway, a road-roro (roll-on, roll-off) ferry network, and a cold chain.

Naņagas pointed out that what the DBP will try to do is to work with the private sector and with the rest of the government in order to have investments in areas of the logistics plan that will connect the Philippines in terms of the three components.

The grains highway will provide better transporting of grains from where it is produced to where it is consumed.

Nanagas said the road-roro network will take care of the cargo requirements of the entire country, moving it from producer to end-user in a more efficient way.

The cold chain will provide the transport of goods that includes fruits, vegetables, fish, chicken and other perishable items.

Naņagas explained that based on a study undertaken by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), waste and spoilage in transporting fruits and vegetables from farmlands to end-users is about 40 percent valued at roughly P30 billion annually.

"That 40 percent is a little bit too much and so we want to put a transport system that will reduce that number to a more manageable 20 percent," Naņagas told reporters in a press briefing in Malacanang.

In the case of transporting corn, spillage loss is about 20 percent of national production, amounting to P4.5 billion annually.

The program, the President said, is work in progress, as it covers a lot of areas and more studies and coordination with agencies concerned.

"We would finance for example private sector investors who would want to buy or operate ro-ro," Naņagas said.

According to Naņagas, the DBP has had experience in doing such project since they have identified specific areas in the country where improvements can be made.