The National Electrification Administrator (NEA), Antonio Almeda, has requested three weeks to come up with a concrete solution to the ongoing power crisis in Occidental Mindoro.

Tulfo, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy, said he had met with Almeda to discuss the agency’s immediate measures to resolve the power supply issue in the said province.

“Sa ibinigay na briefing ni Administrator Almeda sa akin, hiniling niya na bigyan siya ng hanggang tatlong linggo mula ngayon para makapagbigay sila ng konkretong solusyon sa problemang ito,” he said on Sunday.

Occidental Mindoro has been placed under a state of calamity due to the ongoing power outages lasting up to 20 hours for over a month now.

In April, the energy committee held an emergency consultative meeting with different government agencies to discuss the power crisis in Occidental Mindoro. One proposal raised during the meeting was for Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Omeco) to pass a board resolution allowing NEA to loan them P50 million for purchasing bunker fuel as an immediate solution to the power outage.

During his conversation with Almeda, Senator Tulfo emphasized the urgency of the issue and specifically inquired about NEA’s current actions to address the crisis.

Almeda, according to Tulfo, provided the following updates:

NEA has already requested a Certificate of Exemption (COE) from the Department of Energy (DOE) to allow Omeco to enter into an Emergency Power Supply Agreement (EPSA) and secure modular gensets from Singapore that can generate up to 17 megawatts of electricity.

The agency has requested the transfer of four modular gensets, each with 2MW capacity, from Mindanao, which can produce up to 8MW. These same modular gensets were previously used during an emergency power crisis in Mindanao in 2013-2014.

The agency has also asked DMCI Power Corporation to provide around 5MW of electricity from Oriental Mindoro to Occidental Mindoro, which will immediately provide an extra 4 hours of electricity per day in Occidental Mindoro.

NEA and DOE have requested the Department of Finance to remove the restriction on the next loan secured by the National Power Corporation (NPC) so that it can be used in the entire missionary electrification areas. Currently, the NPC cannot use the loan they get in areas already covered by private power providers that supply electricity, such as Omeco, which is no longer included in the Small Power Utility Group areas of the NPC.

NEA has asked NPC to operate the old and unused NPC plant that they will renovate to generate up to 10MW.

Senator Tulfo has also reached out to the Malacañang to request an appointment with President Bongbong Marcos to discuss how the Senate can assist in resolving the power crisis in Occidental Mindoro.