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The Department of Energy is eyeing the filing of necessary charges, including economic sabotage, to energy companies that may have violated the laws or connive with each other resulting in the power shortage in Luzon grid, an official said on Wednesday.

Energy Undersecretary and spokesman Felix William Fuentebella, in the "Laging Handa" public briefing, said Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has directed the department's lawyers to study the possible filing of charges against the energy firms.

"The instruction of Secretary Cusi is, our lawyers in the Department of Energy are exploring that and we are in the process of gathering pieces of evidence. Now, the rules given out with DOE makes it simpler so that we can see if there is anyone who violated or not," he said.

He said under the guidelines issued by the DOE before, preventive maintenance is prohibited in the months of April, May and June, except hydropower plants since the water levels of the dams are low during this period of summer.

"All the rest, they cannot (undergo preventive maintenance)," Fuentebella said.

Power suppliers are also required to submit to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines all scheduled preventive maintenance and the NGCP will be the one to forward it to the DOE for checking and approval, he said.

To be investigated also are distribution utilities if they also are doing their part to prevent possible brownouts, he said.

"So, whether all these were violated or complied with, we are gathering pieces of evidence because what does the Department of Energy want? Is it penalty? No, what we want is compliance," the official said.

But if the concerned private firms fail to continue complying with the requirements, Fuentebella said: "We can't do anything but we have to impose the discipline that is necessary because at the end of the day, consumers are suffereing. We're not only talking about money or collection bills or electricity, we're also talking about safety and health of our people."

He cited that in the hospitals, there is a need for uninterrupted power supply to do some procedures, such as dialysis of patients and taking care of COVID-19 patients.

"And we also want to send a signal to the international community, even to China, to America, to the Europeans, to our Asian neighbors that we are serious in rebooting the economy and we have to have a reliable system," Fuentebella stressed.

"We're after compliance and not penalties. But if you force our hand, we will indeed pursue these cases," he said.

On Wednesday, the DOE spokesman said there was no power reserve for the Luzon grid as the shortage even reached to "negative by over 200 megawatts."

He explained that to have a secure electricity supply in Luzon, the "regulating reserve" should be equivalent to four percent of the demand.

There should also be a "contingency reserve," which is equivalent to the largest power plant in Luzon, which is about 600 to 620 MW, he said.

This week, the DOE and NGCP announced rotating brownouts after some power plants in Luzon went offline due to preventive maintenance.

Fuentebella said the DOE is monitoring and coordinating with the enforcement and partners, such as the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Philippine Competition Commission to determine if there is an ongoing connivance among the power plants that have been undergoing preventive maintenance. Celerina Monte/DMS