Corporate solutions

The business community is coming together to help mitigate the impact of a projected power supply gap in Luzon in 2015. Two key initiatives being pursued in close coordination with the Department of Energy are the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) and additional Power Supply Agreements (PSAs).

The ILP is simply the voluntary switch-on of large generator sets of private firms during the peak demand hours of 10 a.m.-3 p.m. when supply in the grid is deficient. This voluntary action will “deload” the grid and, with enough volunteers, can avert the need for brownouts.  The PSAs, on the other hand, connect even larger private-sector-held generating capacity to feed more power to the grid. This is capacity in the hands of firms that are otherwise not into the business of selling electricity. While the ILP eases the demand on the grid, the PSAs add more juice to it.

The long and short of it is that these efforts can actually help prevent rotating brownouts during the simmering summer months of 2015 across Luzon.  If the pool of ILPs and PSAs is expanded enough, Luzon may be able to hurdle the critical months until more new power plants come online and the scheduled maintenance of existing plants is completed. The DOE expects more stability in the electricity supply toward the end of 2015.

These efforts by the private sector led by Manila Electric Co., Philippine Independent Power Producers Association, and Retail Electricity Suppliers Association deserve an ovation from the owners of millions of residences and thousands of business establishments that will be spared the inconvenience of rotating brownouts. Let us wish them all the success!

But there is more that the business community can do although it has been doing so much already through the years, in accordance with their corporate social responsibility programs as well as embedded and strategic CSR and inclusive business initiatives and models.

To further mitigate the power gap of 2015, for example, corporations can link arms to implement a massive energy conservation program not just in their places of operation but also in the residences of their employees whom they can encourage to participate and educate on how to effectively do so. This campaign can extend to the communities in which they operate and where they have CSR programs in place.

Already being done but needing even more ramping up is disaster preparedness and response. The Corporate Network for Disaster Response (CNDR), together with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, has many times warned of an imminent “big one”—a massive earthquake that could be generated by movement of the West Valley Fault or the Manila Trench. Again, the capacity of companies to reach out to families and communities cannot be discounted. The companies’ employees and families as well as the families in the communities where they run programs are easy pickings for disaster awareness and rescue, relief and reconstruction efforts.

The CNDR, for example, with support from a number of large corporations and a few local government units, implements community-based disaster risk management programs. These include the Noah’s Ark Project and Partners for Resilience. Noah’s Ark aims to find a safe spot in a high-risk area and develop it into an evacuation center where people will feel safe and secure, and develop capacities of vulnerable communities to prepare for flooding. Partners for Resilience, on the other hand, is a five-year program developed by five Netherlands-based organizations (CARE, Cordaid, Wetlands International, Netherlands Red Cross, and RC Climate Centre) that “aims to integrate community-based ecological, humanitarian and development approaches to address the increased risk of hazards, climate change and environment degradation.”

For the feared “big one,” just making families understand the possible scenarios—including Metro Manila being divided into four unconnected zones in case bridges come down and all mobile networks are rendered inoperable—can go a long way in preparedness. If family members are separated, where to go and what and what not to do need to be discussed and agreed on. Corporate-run workshops and seminars can help make this understanding possible toward better response from and among families.

Still another possible arena for positive intervention by corporate communities is traffic management. Aside from adopting zones of discipline, as Toyota did in the University of the Philippines campus, corporations can “cascade” to all its employees a better understanding of traffic rules and regulations. Very few company drivers, for example, understand that it is a traffic violation not to give way to a pedestrian especially when she/he is on the “zebra stripes,” or that larger vehicles must give way to smaller ones, especially bicycles. Signal lights for pedestrians are often ignored by company messengers rushing to make a delivery or to buy coffee and snacks for a meeting. The potential for changing behavior in our streets includes all employees and their immediate relatives who commute or drive to work.

Corporate Philippines can actually produce people who are better prepared for disasters and who can follow the rules—a critical mass sufficient to influence the larger majority to stop being the problem and become part of the solution.

Peter Angelo V. Perfecto is executive director of the Makati Business Club.