Recto pushes solar power to save government energy, water bills


By: Ernie Reyes, InterAksyon.com
August 21, 2014 3:16 PM
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto on Thursday urged the national government to start investing in solar power in order to cut energy and water bills amounting to P12.9 billion annually as a conservation policy.

Recto said that one way of cutting the annual P12.9 billion power and water bill of the national government is for public buildings to be installed with solar panels.

"When it comes to use of 
renewable energy
, government should practice what it preaches," Recto said.

Last week, Recto filed the proposed "Green Energy Government Offices Act" that prescribes measures to reduce the carbon footprint of government buildings.

Recto’s bill requires two agencies - the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Energy (DOE) - to spearhead the installation of not only green energy systems in public buildings but also the popularization of practical energy conservation guides.

"Conservation is always a mix of the high-tech and the common sense," he said.

Recto made the proposal after noting that utility expenses of the government have been on a steady rise, from P8.4 billion in 2011 to the projected P12.9 for 2015, which is the amount proposed in the P2.6 trillion draft national budget.

"If your utilities bill are going up by P4.5 billion in just four years, then you have to plan some cost-cutting," he said.

This year, the allocated amount for utilities is P12.2 billion, but Recto said that going by the historical record, the amount set aside is always breached.

"In 2012, for example, while national budget documents reported an expenditure of P9.2 billion for utilities, the actual amount spent, according to the Commission on Audit, was P11.1 billion," Recto said.

Of this amount, P8.8 billion was for electricity, P2.2 billion was for water, and about P67 million was for cooking gas, the latter mostly by hospitals and camps of the uniformed services.

"The ratio is that for every 1 peso national government allocates for utilities, 80 centavos goes to power, and the rest mostly to water," Recto said.

Recto said the actual bill is way higher if the utility expenses of local governments and government corporations are included.

In batting for solar energy use in his bill, Recto pointed out that solar energy represents fuel input that is "free-of-charge and will not affect our foreign currency reserves as imported petroleum and other fossil fuels do," Recto stressed in his bill.

The senator said that placing more government buildings under solar power would create job opportunities.

He said "the current $800 million in direct investments in renewable energy in the country is expected to create 3,500 new jobs."

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