Cebu is turning to energy conservation as consumers continue to experience rotational brownouts lasting at least two hours at a time in some areas, while the Department of Energy (DOE) targets significant relief from the Visayas power supply crisis before Christmas.
Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro has ordered provincial government offices and facilities to observe a weekly hour of reduced electricity consumption, joining broader efforts to ease pressure on a grid that continues to operate under tight supply conditions.
Baricuatro issued Executive Order 47 on September 4, establishing the ‘Takna Pagpawong sa Suga’ (TAPS) Program.
Under the order, provincial government offices will reduce non-essential power consumption from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. every Monday.
The directive covers departments, offices, economic enterprises, field offices and other facilities owned, leased, operated or controlled by the Cebu Provincial Government.
The initiative comes as the Visayas grid remains vulnerable to supply disruptions.
The Capitol’s TAPS program seeks to institutionalize conservation within the provincial government. Non-essential lighting-including decorative, architectural, landscape, signage and display lights-will be switched off or reduced when safe and practical.
Unused computers, monitors, printers, chargers and other equipment must likewise be shut down or unplugged, while devices that need to remain operational may be placed in energy-saving mode. Air-conditioning units in unoccupied rooms are to be switched off, while occupied spaces should maintain temperatures of at least 24 degrees Celsius when operationally feasible.
The order also allows for the temporary reduction of non-essential electrical systems, but expressly protects critical services.
Healthcare, emergency and disaster operations, public safety, communications, information technology, water supply, sanitation, laboratory operations and other frontline services are excluded from the conservation measures.
Medical equipment, emergency lighting, fire protection systems, medicine refrigeration, servers, closed-circuit television monitors and other essential systems must remain operational.
The provincial government is also urging local governments, national agencies, schools, utilities, businesses, malls, hotels, industrial establishments and households to voluntarily participate in the weekly conservation effort.
Earlier, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin has said the DOE is working toward resolving the Visayas power supply problem before Christmas, although she acknowledged that restoring stability to the grid would not be easy.