Energy efficiency projects’ inclusion in IRR of amended BOT Law pushed

By Myrna M. Velasco – March 20, 2022, 8:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin

Inclusion of energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) projects in the revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the amended Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law is being pushed, so these ventures could be warranted with investment incentives’ availment — primarily on the sphere of procurements for government-underpinned EE projects.

The Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) has formally submitted its proposal on this policy proposition to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center last week, so EE can be integrated into the fine-tuning of the BOT Law’s implementing rules.

The submission done by PE2 was in line with the invitation issued last March 4 by the PPP Center, on behalf of the BOT Law IRR Committee, in their bid to engage the public and relevant stakeholders to provide inputs and comments into the proposed amendments to the current IRR of the amended BOT Law.

According to PE2 President Alexander Ablaza, “recent energy efficiency and conservation policy issuances point to the BOT Law as a legal basis for a procurement modality for EE&C projects implemented in the public sector.”

He primarily cited Section 11 of Republic Act 11285 or the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act, as the key legal anchor for EE’s inclusion in the IRR of the modified BOT Law, because that touches on the “financing, construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure projects by the private sector.”

Ablaza also stated that Section 9 of Resolution No. 5, series of 2022, of the Inter-Agency Energy Efficiency and Conservation Committee (IAEECC), primarily identifies “RA 6957, as amended by RA 7718, or the BOT Law among the governing laws for the procurement of goods and services for the implementation of Government Energy Efficiency Projects (GEEPS).”

Anchoring on that premise then, Ablaza noted “it is clear that the IRR of the BOT Law should qualify energy efficiency and conservation projects.”

The PE2 Alliance, in particular, thus seeks “explicit inclusion of energy efficiency and conservation” among the listed eligible types of projects.”

The group qualified that while “Section 2.2 of the IRR mentions climate change mitigation, there is a need for explicit mention of ‘energy efficiency and conservation’ projects because climate change mitigation may likely not be the only purpose or intent of such project.”

Further, PE2 is batting for “the harmonization of the Government Energy Management Program (GEMP) guidelines,” which is one major facet of the EE&C law’s enforcement — and such must be clearly fleshed out in the BOT Law-IRR’s detailed guidelines for approval of projects.

The group expounded that EE&C projects are typically “smaller in size, uncomplicated in scope, possessing low to zero negative impacts, and would therefore need a simplified, fast-track project approval process with the corresponding endorsement of the Department of Energy through its Energy Utilization Management Bureau.”